Poll season: State extends power bill waiver scheme for farmers for five years
MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government is announcing a flurry of sops and schemes in the run-up to the assembly elections
MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government is announcing a flurry of sops and schemes in the run-up to the assembly elections. After giving loan guarantees worth around ₹2,265 crore to sugar mills controlled by ruling politicians, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar has announced that the scheme to provide free electricity to farmers will continue for the next five years—in return for their votes in the upcoming assembly polls.
In order to please farmers hit by agrarian distress, the state government declared a slew of schemes for them in the recent budget. Notable among these is the ‘Mukhya Mantri Baliraja Vij Savlat Yojana’ (Chief Minister Farmers Electricity Concession Scheme), under which electricity bills incurred by farmers on agriculture pumps will be paid by the state government. Around 44.06 lakh farmers are expected to benefit from this scheme, for which the government has earmarked a sum of ₹14,761 crore.
Addressing a party rally in Surgana, Nashik, on Friday, Ajit Pawar held forth on the power bill waiver. “We have brought in this great scheme but opposition parties are terming it another “chunavi jumla” (empty poll promise), which is not true,” said the deputy chief minister. “We are true to our word. Give us your blessings (in the assembly polls). I will stop using Pawar as my surname if I don’t continue the scheme for the next five years.”
Underscoring this further, Ajit asked his audience what further assurance it wanted from him. “I am also willing to put it down in writing on stamp paper,” he said. “Because I know it is possible; I have been presenting the state budget for the last ten years.” This is the first time that the state government has declared that the scheme will continue for five years.
Ever since the sops and schemes were declared in the state budget, the opposition parties have maintained that the state government is using public money to create a favourable environment for itself for the assembly polls.
All the three ruling parties performed poorly in the recently held Lok Sabha elections. Together, they could secure only 17 out of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state while the three opposition parties mopped up the remaining 30. The BJP bagged nine, the Shiv Sena seven and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP could get only one seat. Among several other reasons, the angst of farmers was a prime one for the drubbing the Mahayuti coalition received in the polls.
It is pertinent to note that the arrears for non-payment of electricity bills are on the rise and the major pending dues are those of agriculture pumps. The recovery rate is only around 3% and by the end of 2021, the pending arrears of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) had already crossed ₹50,000 crore. However, the government knows that forceful recovery would be political suicide.
The state government has already announced free solar pumps for 8.5 lakh farmers. On July 29, it declared yet another sop—financial assistance of ₹5,000 for cotton and soybean farmers with up to two hectares of farmland, a decision that will lighten the state exchequer by ₹4,195 crore. There is also speculation that it could announce a farm loan waiver to turn the electoral tide in its favour.
Farmer leader Ajit Nawale, national joint secretary of the Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sabha (ABKS), dismissed the government’s sops ploy. ABKS has been fighting for the rights of the agrarian community and has organised several long farmers’ marches since March 2018.
“The government is dismayed by the Lok Sabha poll results and hence is trying to diminish the anger of the agrarian community,” said Nawale. “However, that’s not going to happen. They think that by declaring populist schemes, they will stem the angst but farmers are very much aware of the calculations now. The total amount through various schemes is much less than what the government is taking from them by imposing fresh taxes on agriculture-related products.”