Farmers put rider to instal meters for IP sets

 Farmer representatives on Saturday said that they would instal meters to irrigation pump (IP) sets provided the government agrees to declare support price for their crops, besides continuous power supply.

Speaking at the launch of ‘Protect Farmers, Save Energy’ initiative of the Energy department, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Energy Minister D K Shivakumar, urged the farmers to install meters to curb the increasing transmission and distribution losses.

Stating that the government was floundering to account the actual energy consumed and the transmission and distribution losses, Siddaramaiah said farmers continue to consume maximum power when compared to farmers of other states.

Power consumption

The State has 22 lakh IP sets and the farmers are consuming 37 per cent of the State’s total power.Maharashtra and An-dhra Pradesh have 40 lakh and 32 lakh IP sets respectively, but their farmers are consuming only 27 per cent of the total power there. The chief minister also said that IP sets were increasing by about five per cent every year in the State.

He also appealed to the farmers not to oppose the Kudgi thermal power plant, which has the capacity to produce 4,000 MW of power, especially when Karnataka is reeling under power crisis.

Shivakumar said Karnataka has been able to produce only 50 per cent of power. More power is being imported from outside, he added. Rajya Raitha Sangha president Kodihalli Chandrashekar said that the government was not doing the farmers any favour by extending subsidises to IP sets.

“We don’t want to instal meters for pump sets. Let the government give us support price for the crops we grow. The farmers will pay the electricity bill only if this happens,” he added.