Maha agri pump power connection backlog crosses 29,000: Munde

The backlog of electricity connections to agricultural pumps in Maharashtra has crossed the 29,000 mark till October this year, Leader of Opposition in state Legislative Council Dhananjay Munde said here today.
Energy Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule has refuted the charge, saying the BJP-led NDA government has provided electricity to more pumps than had been done by the erstwhile Congress-led UPA government.
Munde said when farmers are committing suicides due to "agrarian crisis" in Vidarbha and Marathwada regions, the state government is disconnecting electricity connection given to agricultural pumps.
"The government is lying on the number of power connections given to agricultural pumps. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had last December said there are no pending proposals of any farmers to provide electricity to pumps," he said.

Munde said since April to October this year, 39,542 farmers had applied for power connectivity for their agriculture pumps in 19 districts under Amravati, Nagpur and Aurangabad divisions.
"However, 29,827 farmers are still in the waiting," he said.

The NCP leader further said that the pendency never went beyond 2982 during January 2011 to March 2014 when the UPA government was in power.
The proposals received by the then government were as high as 1.12 lakh, he said.
"However, since 2014, when BJP came to power, the demand from farmers reduced to 39,542 in 2017 from 89,887 in 2014. At the same time, the number of pending connections went up from 3,352 to 29,827 from 2014 to 2017," he said.

He said that in Nagpur, from where the Chief Minister and Energy Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule hail from, the number of farmers who are yet to receive electricity for agriculture pumps has gone up to 9,255 in 2017 from 1 in 2014.
Responding to Munde's charges, Bawankule said when a comparison is done between the present and past dispensations, the BJP-led government has provided electricity to 2.5 times more pumps than the UPA government did.
"When we took over in October 2014, the demands of farmers in Marathwada and Vidarbha for electricity were pending from 2010-11. In two years, we have given more than 2 lakh connections in that area and cleared all pendencies," Bawankule told PTI.

He said the government is clearing proposals for pumps in the same year.
"Our average is 2.5 times compared to theirs. The previous government used to give Rs 100 crore a year and we have given nearly Rs 2000 crore," the minister said.
He said funds are generally sanctioned in May-June whereas tenders are invited and connections are given between November and April.
"One more change we made was that in their government, they gave connections without creating infrastructure which led to frequent failures. We are providing all infrastructure. What right do they have then to point fingers at us," Bawankule questioned.