Farmer takes to twitter, asks PM Narendra Modi to help energise his borewell

Hubballi: Claiming lack of response from the government to his pleas, a 65- year old drought-hit farmer, Topanna Halli from the hamlet of Muttalageri in Badami taluk , Bagalkot district, has now tweeted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy to help him get the power he needs to operate the borewell sunk under the Ganga Kalyan scheme in his fields.

Mr Topanna, who says he received no response to a petition to former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, has in his tweet 'Save farmer,' also appealed to him not to ignore the welfare of farmers.

Although he has been growing maize on his farm for the last three years, he has suffered a loss of over Rs 25,000 every year due to poor rainfall. When all else failed, he hoped the borewell sunk under the government's scheme, would come to his rescue , but it too has not helped in the absence of power to operate it. "We have been suffering from a drought because of the poor rainfall. I manage to harvest merely five to six quintals of maize instead of 40 quintals, which results in a huge loss every year. To make things worse officials have not provide power supply to the borewell after sinking it under the government scheme. We have also not received any compensation under the Fasal Bima Yojana," the farmer complains.

HESCOM assistant executive engineer, P Pyatigoudar, when contacted, however, claimed power supply to Mr Topanna's borewell had been delayed as he wanted a transformer and not the low tension (LT) power line that had been sanctioned for him. " Our staff returned several times after making an attempt to provide him electricity as he insisted on the transformer although the LT line is enough for him draw water for the borewell," he said.