UP announces 50pc rebate to farmers in tubewell power bills

In a big relief to the farmers, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has announced 50 per cent freeship in power bills of private tube wells used by farmers in the state.The official tweet of the Chief Minister says that a 50 per cent rebate in electricity rates relative to the current rates, for private tubewells of farmers will be given in state. A press release of the government says that the decision will come in effect from this month only and cover the metered, unmetered, energy efficient and private tubewells of the farmers in rural areas and metered tubewells in urban areas. The decision will affect around 13 lakh farmers of the state directly and put a burden of one thousand crore rupees per year on the power corporation.The relief will lead to an extra burden of an estimated Rs1,000 crore on the UP Power Corporation Ltd and benefit an estimated 13 lakh consumers,said the spokesman.

According to the proposed new rates, now consumers in rural areas will have to pay Re 1 per unit instead of the present Rs 2 per unit for a metered tubewell. For energy efficient tubewells, the rate will be 83 paise per unit instead of existing Rs1.65 per unit. The fixed charge has been brought down to Rs 35 per horsepower instead of Rs 70 for metred connections and Rs 85 per horsepower from Rs 170 per horsepower for unmetered connections. The state government at present provides subsidy to the tune of Rs 11,000 crore annually to Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) for providing cheap power to tubewells. The state government will have to now increase the subsidy accordingly.Earlier this month, Samajwadi Party (SP) national president Akhilesh Yadav had announced free power to farmers for irrigation and 300 units free to all domestic power consumers if his party formed the next government in Uttar Pradesh. The Congress too has promised to bring down the power bills to half.