Power transformers to be distributed to farmers; 50,280 new connections today

Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh Central Power Distribution Corporation would distribute power transformers for the 50,280 newly released agriculture services, to the benefit of farmers in Vijayawada, Guntur and Ongole on Tuesday.

People’s representatives will distribute the transformers at events scheduled at all three places. APCPDCL chairman and managing director Padma Janardhan Reddy briefed energy minister Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy and energy special chief secretary Vijayanand via a teleconference. He said the state government has released 50,280 new agriculture connections under the purview of CPDCL and would provide transformers to farmers free of cost under the high voltage distribution scheme. The electricity department / DISCOMs would also bear the expenditure for drawing electrical lines up to 180 metres apart from the spend for the transformers.

The CPDCL chairman has appealed to farmers to cooperate with the electricity department to complete the process of providing the agricultural connections to them. The transformers would help strengthen the daytime power supply system for the agriculture sector, the CMD said.

The state government is committed to continue the free power scheme for the next 25 years. It would implement the direct benefit transfer scheme to the benefit of lakhs of farmers, the CMD added.

The CMD said installing meters for agriculture connections would help farmers know as to what extent they were using free power and how much was being spent for it. This would prevent power utilities from transferring their losses to farmers.

He ruled out any chance of the state government imposing restrictions on the total number of free power connections and said the government would sanction new agriculture connections based on need and regularise the unauthorised and additional load connections.

The CMD said the ultimate aim of the state government was to ensure that all farmers in the state got free power and improved their living standards.