Ambitious solar pump scheme to be rolled back

The deadline for implementation of the scheme is over and Centre has decided not to provide funding for new pumps.

Mumbai: An ambitious Central government scheme related to the distribution of solar pumps to farmers will be rolled back. The deadline for implementation of the scheme is over and Centre has decided not to provide funding for new pumps.

This is why Mahavitaran, the state government’s power distribution utility, has decided to curtail the Atal Solar Agriculture Pump scheme. Under the scheme, 10,000 pumps that were to be distributed. The number has now been halved. Out of the 10,000 pumps to be distributed initially, 8,000 were supposed to be distributed in suicide-prone districts such as Akola, Amaravati, Washim, Yavatmal, Buldhana and Wardha.

The state government had come up with the ambitious scheme of distributing 5 lakh solar pumps to farmers. The government issued a GR on March 27 2015 with the name as Atal Solar Agriculture Pump scheme. For the first year, the government decided to distribute 10,000 pumps to farmers.

It was also decided that 3.5 and 7.5 horsepower pumps would be given to farmers with payment of five per cent to the total cost. The state government was supposed to contribute a share of five per cent, the Centre 30 per cent and fundraising was supposed to raise 60 per cent. The Union government had set a deadline of March 30 2017 for the distribution of 8,000 solar pumps while 2,000 had to be distributed by December. But, the Maharashtra government failed to complete its target. Therefore, the Centre stopped raising its share, which affected state’s power distribution company.

Source: asianage