Vidarbha requires Rs 6,446 crore to remove backlog of agriculture pumps

Vidarbha requires Rs 6,446 crore to remove backlog of agriculture pumps

HERE is one more instance of how Maharashtra Government has been neglecting Vidarbha. While Pune and Nashik divisions, and Marathwada have excess agricultural pumps as against Slate average, rainfed region of Vidarbha has a massive backlog that has reached 61.37 per cent. State Government will require Rs 6.446 crore to remove this backlog of Vidarbha.

Adv Madhukarrao Kimmaikar. Expert Member of Vidarbha Statutory Development Board (VSDB), told mediapersons on Saturday that Dandekar Committee and Indicators and Backlog Committee had calculated backlog of agriculture pumps in the Slate as per ttonisand hectares of cropped area. Recently. MSEDCL informed VSDB about disirict-wise position of pumps energised on March 2014. As per the report. Konkan Division has a backlog of 1,08.494 pumps. Nashik has 2.71.772 excess pumps. Pune Division has 3,36,254 excess pumps. Maraihwada has 87.562 excess pumps. However, Nagpur Division has a backlog of 1.63,255 pumps, and Amravaii Division has backlog of 2.63.638 agriculture pumps.

MSEDCL has to spend Rs 1.51 lakh to energise an agricultural pump. The financial backlog of Amravati Division is Rs 3.980 crore and that of Nagpur Division is Rs 2.465 crore. As per the report, the consumption of energy per hectare in Nashik and Pune divisions is the highest whereas it is much less in Amravati. Nagpur. and Konkan divisions. State Government is supplying electricity to these pumps at subsidised rates. As per the report. Nashik Division is getting subsidy of Rs 989 crore, Pune Division- Rs 1.083 crore, Aurangabad Division-

-  Rs 803 crore. Konkan Division Rs 24.69crore. Amravati Division-

- Rs 326 crore. and Nagpur Division  Rs 141.79 crore.

In spile of excess agriculture pumps in Puneand Nashikdivisions, ihe State Government has set more target for energisation of pumps in these divisions and the target is less in the districts with more backlog. The farmers of Vidartiha have applied for energisation of their pumps hut MSEDCL could not decide their applications for years, Kimmatkar alleged. He rejected MSEDCL officers' statement that there was no response from farmers of the region to get electricity connections. The company is not interested in removing this backlog. On the contrary. the company is increasing backlog at greater speed. The backlog of agriculture pumps as in 1996. as calculated by Indicator and Backlog Committee, is still not removed in the districts of Konkan and Vidarbha even after 18 years. Compared to Nashik and Pune divisions, irrigation facilities are lesser in Vidarbha

Posted in: News 2014