AP wins top slot in grant of agriculture power connections

VIJAYAWADA: The AP government has won first place in the country in giving the highest number of agriculture power connections in the 2022-23 financial year. AP is followed by Rajasthan in the second place and Telangana in the third place.  

The AP government is giving top priority to agriculture and the welfare of farmers. Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has asserted repeatedly that the state’s share in the GSDP was 35 per cent. He has introduced several welfare schemes for the farming community and insisted on providing power connections to all needy farmers, official sources said.

The central government recently released the results of the 20 Points Implementation Programme for the last fiscal. The target was to grant 24,852 agricultural electricity connections in AP, but the state government sanctioned a record 1,24,311 connections to farmers.

Not a single application for agricultural power connection is pending in the state, officials said.

The state’s target is to electrify 4,54,081 agricultural farms across the country while various state governments and Union Territories have issued 7,35,338 connections. As many as 1,24,311 connections were granted in AP alone.

In Rajasthan, the target was to provide connections to 44,770 agricultural pump sets but 99,137 connections were released. Against 25,148 targeted connections, the Telangana state granted connections to 89,183 pump sets.

The target of Punjab was to grant 1,50,000 connections, while the government granted only 524 connections. The central government said Punjab achieved the target of 'zero' per cent. Puducherry was in the last place with only 45 connections.

Special principal secretary to the energy department K. Vijayanand said the special attention given by Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy and energy minister Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy helped the state achieve the top slot.