Gadchiroli Sept. 3 (District correspondent) Nearly three hundred farmers from Shivni Bujruk in Armori taluka dashed to the police station, tehsildar, deputy executive engineer and submitted them memorandums under the leadership of former deputy sarpanch Pravin Rahate demanding regular power supply to the motor pumps in view of the lack of rainfall.
At present, there is very less rain in the taluka compared to the previous year and the crops of this area are badly suffering, it was pointed out.
The timings for agriculture pumps are fixed from 9 am to 5 am, but due to load shedding, the farmers are being supplied with electricity for only two to three hours, so the government is making a mockery of the farmers, alleged the farmers.
The paddy and vegetables have dried up due to the shortage of power supply as the farmers can’t irrigate their land. There are agricultural pumps in the taluka, but they have become useless due to negligible power supply. In order to increase the capacity of the transformer of the agricultural pump, steps should be taken, it was demanded.
Eight hours power supply policy has been decided for the farmers out of which only two to three hours of electricity is supplied due to load shedding, it was pointed out.
Farmers in Shivni area have already applied for the power supply for their agricultural pumps by duly paying the required charges, but the MSEDCL is just collecting money through bills without installing meters. After the flood of 2020, the meters of farmers are closed and despite repeatedly reminding the officials of the MSEDCL, they are mocking the farmers by giving estimated bills, alleged the farmers.
The farmers warned to launch an agitation if they are not provided regular and sufficient power supply. About 300 agricultural pump holders including former Dy. Sarpanch Pravin Rahate, Mahesh Bulle, Namdev Durve, Vitthal Dumbre, Rajendra Khobragade, Shravan Makde, Arvind Khobragade, Pandurang Donadkar, Sriram Vaidya, Dadaji Patre, Baliram Thackeray were present during the agitation.
