The Yogi government has announced a big gift for farmers of Uttar Pradesh ahead of the Holi festival. In a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath , it was decided to waive electricity bills of farmers with private tube wells with retrospective effect from April 1, 2023. The decision will benefit around 1.5 crore farmers of the state. The government has provided Rs 1800 crore in the 2024-2025 budget for implementation of the scheme.
Furthermore, the government has put forth a proposal for a scheme aimed at assisting farmers with outstanding electricity bills predating April 1, 2023, in bill settlement without accruing interest and offering them convenient installment options.
Informing about the decision following the Cabinet meeting at Lok Bhawan, Energy Minister AK Sharma said that with this announcement the government has kept its promise of providing 100 percent exemption from power tariff to the farmers owning private tube wells in the state.
He added: “There are about 14.73 lakh private tube wells in the rural areas and 5,188 in urban areas of the state. During our tenure, we have converted about 200 Gram Panchayats into Nagar Gram Panchayats, eliminating the difference between the two. As such, a total of 14.78 lakh tubewells will benefit from the decision of the Cabinet.”
According to Sharma, on an average 8 to 10 farmers benefit from one tube well in terms of irrigation of their fields and thus, the total number of beneficiaries of the scheme will reach about 1.5 crore in Uttar Pradesh. “If we consider an average family size of 5 members per farmer, approximately 6-7 crore individuals stand to benefit from this scheme. For outstanding dues predating this date, we are devising an interest-free scheme, which will be rolled out soon.”
He informed that the Chief Minister had earlier made a provision of Rs 2400 crore for this scheme in 2023-24. Energy Minister AK Sharma and Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi also expressed their gratitude to CM Yogi for this important decision in the interest of the farmers.
