With no permanent power connections to their fields, farmers in Chhatarpur district rely on temporary arrangements to fulfil their irrigation needs
Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh: For
Lalla Bai of Chhatarpur district, cultivating rabi crop is a
game of life and death. She sows wheat on five acres every November, and
immediately starts worrying about how to irrigate the fields.
She has two wells on her farm in Mathani Khera village of Bada Malhera
town, but no power connection to run motor pumps. “We have to apply for a
temporary connection and draw power lines to our fields to get electricity for
agricultural purposes. It is an extra expense added to the already pricey input
costs,” Bai’s sons Balram and Rakesh tell 101Reporters.
The rabi crop requires about four months of continuous
irrigation before it is ready for harvest. Hence, two 2 HP pumps installed at
Bai’s farm run for seven hours each daily.
For both motor pumps, Bai had to apply for separate temporary
connections, which cost her Rs 7,200 each and expired by March end. From a
distance, one can only see the precariously standing makeshift electric poles
on the way to the fields with a criss-cross mesh of wires.
“To bring electricity to our farm, we had to draw a line from an
electricity pole located about 3 km away… A 9 km wire is required to draw a 3
km line (three wires for three phases). The special plastic encased wire costs
around Rs 40,000 and has to be replaced every two years,” they say.
One acre can produce about 20 to 22 quintals of wheat. On the other hand, one quintal of wheat is sold at Rs 2,100, which translates into a potential earning of Rs 2.10-2.30 lakh from five acres. At the same time, Lalla Bai’s family had to spend Rs 54,400 just to irrigate the fields!
A threat to life
Since the connection is temporary, it is not very safe. During storms,
there is a fear of wires snapping and falling into the irrigated fields. The
live wire lying out in the open is a death trap. Nearly five years ago,
villager Ramesh Yadav’s three buffaloes were found dead in the field in a
suspected case of electrocution from open wires.
“On March 20, there was a hailstorm during which many wires of multiple temporary connections snapped. The community got together and decided to remove them from the farmland immediately. Good sense saved lives this time,” Balram continues.
There are over 200 houses in Mathani Khera with a total population of
700. Of these, 148 families are into farming. Wheat is the main rabi crop
of this village, where water from electricity-run private tubewells is used for
irrigation.
Villagers Ganesha Ahirwar, Raju Adivasi, Prakash Yadav and Chintaman Pal, all have one- to
three-km-long temporary connections drawn to their fields. “There is no
alternative to this risky mode of operation,” they say in unison.
It is relatively easy to get a temporary connection. Farmers just have
to visit the nearest discom and verbally inform the staff concerned about their
water needs. If the case is approved, they will get a receipt. The onus of
setting up the line and keeping it secure from thefts lies with the farmer.
The power supplied for agricultural purposes is unmetered and is not
available on a per unit basis. The rate is decided based on the horsepower of
the water pump and the duration of the connection.
As per the data released by the Madhya Pradesh Madhya Kshetra Vidyut Vitaran Company Limited, one of the three discoms in the state, one lakh applications for temporary connections were received this rabi season from Bhopal and eight nearby districts.
High generation, poor supply
Madhya Pradesh declared itself a surplus state in power generation in January. Though the government claims to provide 10 hours of uninterrupted supply to farmers, Mathani Khera and nearby villages of Kandwa, Kabian, Kundaliya, Bann and Madi Khera face the issue of lack of supply every day.
Villagers say they get about six to eight hours of electricity, that too
mostly in two phases, with which they can manage their household chores and run
a fan and a couple of bulbs. For operating irrigation pumps, three-phase power
is necessary.
However, for the most part of the day, only two phases get supply. As
three-phase power is available late at night, farmers are forced to step out in
the dark to switch on the pump, which is too dangerous.
Balram says the state Cabinet approved the Chief Minister’s
Permanent Pump Connection Scheme in 2016 to provide permanent electric
farm pump connections and to convert existing temporary connections into
permanent ones. There was a subsidy provision on the total expenditure incurred
to bring electricity to the fields, which was later stopped. Though there is no
information from the authorities on when it was withdrawn, farmers claim they
stopped getting its benefit much before the COVID-19 lockdown.
“We did not have information about the scheme at that time, so we could
not get the connection. The discom officials knew that electricity had not
reached the farms in Mathani Khera and nearby villages, but they did not bother
to inform us,” he claims.
In a writing published over
three months ago, Madhya Pradesh Energy Minister Pradyuman Singh Tomar says
that Madhya Pradesh has a power generation capacity of 22,730 MW. “In the
current rabi season, as on December 30, 2022, the maximum
power demand of 17,065 MW was successfully met, which is the highest in the
history of the state,” he writes.
According to Madhya Pradesh Energy Department, the normal power
consumption in the state is 12,000 MW. It rises to 15,000-16,000 MW in
the rabi season. Though the state has a maximum generation capacity
of 25,000 MW, it is possible only when there is adequate storage of coal
and water to run coal and hydropower plants, respectively.
Wind and solar power plants are also operational. Overall, Madhya
Pradesh has moved ahead in terms of power generation. It is the power supply
where the results are not satisfactory.
“In most villages of Hardol Patti panchayat in Bada Malhera
tehsil, permanent farm connections are not present. We approached the
government on behalf of the panchayat, but our efforts did not succeed,” says
Hardol Patti deputy sarpanch Bhupendra Singh Bundela.
“We also spoke to the discom officials, who told us that setting up
dedicated poles along the farmlands and a transformer will cost lakhs of
rupees, which our village will not be able to afford. The financial condition
of farmers is also not good enough that they can afford to set up temporary
connections all the time. We need a permanent solution,” he says.
Energy Department Principal Secretary Sanjay Dubey did not respond to
the email queries sent in this regard. However, Shriram Pandey, Superintending
Engineer, Madhya Pradesh East Zone
Electricity Distribution Company, Chhatarpur,
told 101Reporters that 66,000 farmers in the district
have permanent connections, whereas 14 take temporary connections in the rabi season
every year.
“Farmers earlier got financial assistance for permanent connections in the least possible time under the Mukhyamantri Krishi Sthai Sinchai Pump Yojana. As the scheme is not functional now, a farmer has to pay the full cost of the poles, wires, transformer and labour if they want a permanent farm connection. If the farmers of Bada Malhara are ready to bear the expenses, they will also get access to permanent connections,” he adds.
Edited by Tanya Shrivastava
Cover photo - Temporary wooden poles carrying low-lying electrical cables installed inside the fields in Mathani Khera (Photo - Pooja Yadav, 101Reporters)
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