Gujarat Govt Spent Rs 12,757 cr in Power Subsidies to Farmers in 2 Years

According to state energy minister Kanu Desai, the Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission has decided a tariff of Rs 2,400 per horsepower (HP) per year for agricultural consumers, but they pay Rs 665 per HP per year and the remaining Rs 1,735 per HP per year is paid by the state government to Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd (GUVNL) as a subsidy.

"To help farmers with their electricity expenses, the state government provided a total of Rs 12,757 crore in subsidies over two years, 2021 and 2022. It has also set aside Rs 10,970 crore for the fiscal year 2022-23," Desai said the Parliament.

Farmers are also spared from paying gasoline charges, which are paid by the government as a subsidy to GUVNL, he said.

The minister further informed the House that farmers from the scheduled caste and scheduled tribal communities have been exempted from paying the fixed rate for farm-use energy connections.

According to him, the fixed tariff of Rs 20 per HP per year for farmers has been cut to Rs 10 per HP per year for connections of up to 7.5 HP and Rs 5 per HP per year for connections of more than 7.5 HP. According to him, this has resulted in 14 lakh farmers receiving Rs 260 crore in annual support.

In response to marked queries, Desai stated that the state government had paid Rs 1762.80 crore in subsidies to 4,57,329 agricultural power consumers in the districts of Jamnagar, Surat, and Kutch.

The government gave a subsidy of Rs 1195.78 crore to 1,24,941 farm energy consumers in Kutch district in two years, he said.