Maha govt to convert 40 lakh agriculture pumps to energy-efficient ones in 4 years

The Maharashtra government plans to convert 40 lakh existing agriculture pumps into energy-efficient ones over the next four years. State minister for energy Chandrashekhar Bawankule said that energy-efficient pumps will not only reduce farmers’ power bills, they will also provide respite to the state exchequer by bringing down subsidy amount by at least Rs 4,000 crore every year.

The state government provides electricity for agriculture pumps at the rate of 85 paise per unit and provides annual subsidy of Rs 8,000 crore for the same. “Though we provide electricity to farmers at subsidised rates, farmers are unable to pay their bills regularly. Pending dues towards such bills amount to Rs 11,000 crore,” said Mr Bawankule. He added he has suggested that energy-efficient agriculture pumps be imported that will help reduce power consumption by at least 30 per cent. \"To change 40 lakh pumps installed across Maharashtra, we will need Rs 12,000 crore. I have spoken to Agriculture Minister Eknath Khadse and requested that his department share the costs so that the scheme can be implemented,” said Mr Bawankule.

The energy minister claimed that MSEB Holding Company has sufficient funds as well as the option to borrow money from agencies if the Agriculture Department has insufficient funds for the scheme. The holding company includes three independent companies – Generation, Transmission and Distribution.

Mr Bawankule said that each pump will cost Rs 30,000. \"We will not burden farmers with the cost of these pumps. They will be provided these pumps free of cost. So, there is no possibility of them opposing the scheme,\" he said. Once the new pumps are installed, old ones will be scrapped so that they are not re-sold. Mr Bawankule further said that one of the features of these pumps will be that they will have a trigger installed in them and if a farmer tries to fetch more water than the capacity of the pump, the trigger will immediately conk off, thereby reducing chances of a blast in the transformer. \"Today, there are several cases of theft of power for Agriculture pumps. Instead of authorised 3HP pumps, farmers use 5HP pumps and because of an overload, the transformer burns out. That will also stop,” he said.