Discoms to regularise illegal pumps in Telangana
TSNPDCL has asked the farmers to apply for regularise them by paying a nominal fee
Hyderabad: Despite struggling to overcome power shortage, the Telangana government has decided to open up gates for issue of new agricultural pump sets and both the distribution firms have invited applications for new connections.
There has been a ban on issuance of new connections for the past three years — under WALTA — as the ground water position is very dismal, particularly in the northern region.
As a result, farmers have illegally arranged pump sets in their fields which account for nearly over three lakhs in the state. With this the total number of agricultural pump sets would go up from the present 20.5 lakh to 24 lakh, well-placed sources said.
TSNPDCL has asked the farmers to apply for regularise them by paying a nominal fee. This has given farmers a sense of relief as they are now being forced to pay bribes to local staff for using power.
The official estimates of power consumption by farm pump sets during this financial year was 12,432 million units but actually this figure would be more by at least another 2,000 mu, if all the illegal pump sets and new connections are taken into account, said a power sector expert.