No burden on farmers, says Ajeya Kallam

Amaravati: Chief Adviser to the Government Ajeya Kallam said there will be no burden on farmers regarding free power. Allaying fears over smart meters to be fixed for agriculture pumpsets, he said the meters will be fixed by power distribution companies (discoms) and the power usage charges will be transferred directly into the dedicated accounts of farmers, as per the draft Electricity Bill of the Union government.

Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, Ajeya Kallam said that the state government will be introducing the direct electricity cash transfer system.

Discoms were given the responsibility to create dedicated bank accounts for the farmers and install smart meters at free of cost, where every month the meter reading will be directly sent to the finance department, which immediately transfers the amount to farmers' bank accounts, to be redeemed by discoms.

He asserted that the steps are being taken in line with the Central reforms and explained that the Union government has made it clear in the draft Bill that the subsidies given to the farmers should be transferred directly to their accounts. Although several states, including AP and Telangana, objected to some of the aspects in the draft Bill, to fulfil the promise of providing free electricity to the farmers, the state government formulated a new policy that fits within the guidelines of the Union government. The Chief Minister is determined to continue this scheme under any circumstances, as it was introduced by his father former CM Dr Y S Rajashekar Reddy, Ajyea Kallam said.

He alleged that the previous government ignored the power sector by destroying the production at thermal power stations and making purchases from the private sector for kickbacks. Despite having a surplus production of 12 per cent, the then officials have made purchases from private units at higher costs and left a pile of debts to the discoms. He said that the YSRCP government had cleared Rs 34,384 crore of pending bills to the discoms, which include Rs 20,122 crore dues by the previous government. In addition, the government also cleared the pending bills of power utilities, which are about Rs 17,904 crore, he explained.