Puducherry farmers to get free power

The government today announced that farmers in Puducherry will get power supply free of cost from the current month for pump sets used for irrigation purpose.
The Department of Agriculture said in a notification that introduction of free power supply for farmers was in keeping with the assurance given by the Agriculture Minister during the budget session (2016-2017). It is introduced for the current fiscal (2017-2018).
The notification also said that the Council of Ministers had approved the proposal for the supply of free electricity to small and other classes of farmers in the Union Territory.
While 960 small farmers would be benefited by the scheme as many as 5,911 farmers coming under "other categories" would be the other beneficiaries.

The financial implication for the government as a result of supply of free power to farmers has been estimated at Rs.1.95 crore during the current fiscal, the notification said.