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Question hour: Farmers to get 90,000 solar water pumps: Arora
Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA) will provide 90,000 new solar water pumps to farmers for agriculture purposes in the state
Chandigarh : Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA) will provide 90,000 new solar water pumps to farmers for agriculture purposes in the state.
This was disclosed by new and renewable energy sources minister Aman Arora in the Punjab vidhan sabha on Tuesday during the question hour. He was replying to Shutrana MLA Kulwant Singh Bazigar’s query.
Arora said 20,000 agriculture solar pump-sets will be provided under the first phase and the remaining 70,000 solar pumps will be given in the second phase. These will be allotted farmers who have a sprinkler and drip irrigation system in dark zones, the minister said.
Farmers having land in no dark zone area can apply for solar pumps without the condition of sprinkler and drip irrigation system installed in their fields, he informed the House.
Replying to a question by Sanaur MLA Harmit Singh Pathanmajra, Arora said that 15 solar rooftop PV panels with a capacity of 75KW have already been installed at government schools in the Sanaur constituency. After the fund approval, more government schools will be equipped with rooftop solar panels in the constituency, he added.
Power and public works minister Harbhajan Singh ETO said more than seven lakh domestic consumers in the state have been exempted from electricity bills under the ‘zero bill’ scheme to date during the current fiscal. The relief of free 300 units of power per month and 600 units per billing cycle was extended to 77,23,309 domestic consumers of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), he said.
The power minister said that this represents a significant increase from the 22,48,065 consumers who benefited of 200 units of free power supply per month in the fiscal year 2021-22.
