WB govt wants farmers to use power during offpeak hours

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West Bengal government today said if the farmers use power during off-peak hours, the cost of power is just Rs 2.2 per unit against the rate more than of Rs 7 per unit during peak hours.
On opposition's demand to reduce power tariff for the farm sector, Power Minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay said electricity rates during off-peak hour has been kept very low keeping in mind the need of the farmers.
He said, a project has also been undertaken to segregate the transmission lines for domestic and for agriculture as part of mitigating power quality issues.
The house today passed the Rs 2638 crore power budget for 2018-19 for power.

Chattopadhyay also urged the members of the house to help the government in preventing power theft.
He said about 371 MW of hydel power projects are under consideration apart from various projects.

Meanwhile, the house passed Rs 426 crore state tourism department budget for 2018-19.
Tourism Minister Indranil Sen said tourism in Darjeeling was coming back to normalcy and in the peak season, the number of tourists will grow rapidly.
He also stated that government has undertaken various projects to improve the tourism infrastructure and destinations.