Tamil Nadu to identify free power connections, plug misuse

CHENNAI: The state agricultural production commissioner has instructed officials to survey agri-service connections that are either not in use or are being used for purposes other than irrigation. This is part of efforts to prevent misuse of govt subsidy towards supply of free electricity for agriculture, officials said.
An agricultural production commissioner circular said many agricultural fields were converted to non-agricultural plots.Wells and borewells for which service connections were obtained to get free power have been lying defunct for long. "If such connections are enumerated in every village, the actual number of connections used for agri purposes can be arrived at and payment to Tangedco made accordingly," it said.
Officials will monitor the enumeration in Erode, Coimbatore, Cuddalore, Villupuram, Tenkasi, Tirunelveli, Dindigul, Madurai, Tuticorin and Tiruvallur districts. Assistant agricultural officers and assistant horticultural officers have been assigned villages to enumerate abandoned wells and borewells with free power connections. The final report with block-wise details from each district must be submitted to the commissioner before Aug 24. This exercise will subsequently be extended to other districts, an official said.
Free power is given to 23.56 lakh agri service connections for irrigation, for which 7,280 crore was allocated earlier this year towards payment to Tangedco. This works out to 30,000 per connection in one year.
C Selvaraj of Federation of Anti-Corruption Teams India, an NGO, said the move would help prepare a functional list. "Even Tangedco doesn't know the actual number of agri connections. If done properly, it will reduce the subsidy burden." P Shanmugam, state president of Tamil Nadu Farmers Association, agreed, but said the survey should be fair.
"Farmers shouldn't be harassed as long as service connections in their names are used for agriculture."