Procurement News Notice |
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| PNN | 3937 |
| Work Detail | A study conducted by the Vidarbha Statutory Development Board analyzing official data of electricity consumption patterns has led to a shocking revelation. It shows farm pumps in western Maharashtra (comprising Pune and Nashik divisions) guzzled 61.44% of the power supplied to agriculture sector of the state. In stark contrast, farm pumps in Vidarbha consumed an abysmal 15.74% of the electricity consumed in the region. For last two decades, Vidarbha region has the dubious distinction of recording highest number of farmers' suicides. The cotton and soyabean growers of region totally depend on rains in absence of any means of assured irrigation. The nature may have gifted the region with good rains but monsoons getting more and more unpredictable and erratic have proved to a major jinx. Consequent poor yields and chronic losses in agriculture have added to the distress. For years, farmers of Vidarbha have been denied connections to pumps as there is a long waiting list of applicants. Apparently, there is no such hassle for farmers of western Maharashtra as they are favoured and have been provided connections on demand for decades. So, while there is a backlog in farm pump connections in Vidarbha and Marathwada, in western Maharashtra they are provided on priority because of political influence. This is amply clear from the state power utility's statistics for the year 2015-16. What is more shocking in this deprivation is that the injustice has been heaped despite the fact that 60% of electricity generation of the state is in Vidarbha. So while the region's farmers are denied the electricity and subjected to long hours of load-shedding, the people here get millions of tonnes of ash and carbon-laden smoke spewed by thermal power stations. These coal-fired power stations in public as well as private sector also get cheap land and water from rivers, reservoirs of Vidarbha. Not only in farm sector, even the overall electricity consumption across all ctaegories (domestic, farm, industrial, railways) is heavily lopsided. Rest of Maharashtra (western Maharashtra along with Konkan) laps up 70.67% of electricity consumed in the state while the poor cousins Vidarbha and Marathwada consume 15.62% and 13.71% respectively. Power and poverty * Of the 4443 MUs power consumed in Vidarbha, 15.74% is by farm pumps * In contrast, farm pumps in western Maharashtra (Pune, Nashik divisions) guzzle 61.44% of 17347.98 MUs supplied to those regions * Across all categories of power users, Rest of Maharashtra consumes 70.67% of power generated in the state, Vidarbha 15.6% and Marathwada 13.7% * With long waiting list of connections for pumps, Vidarbha farmers' dependence on rains is total leading to recurring crop losses and farm suicides |
| Country | India , Southern Asia |
| Industry | Energy & Power |
| Entry Date | 03 Sep 2016 |
| Source | http://energy.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/power/sans-pumps-vid-farmers-use-only-15-of-power-supplied/53881937 |
