The Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FAPCCI) today asked the state government to order distribution companies to take prior permission before giving any additional subsidy on power supply to the agriculture sector. The industry body which is facing the heat of power cuts said the subsidy element to agriculture has been continuously going up over the last few years. “We request that whenever any additional power given to agriculture over and above as promised in tariff, discoms should take prior permission from government for additional subsidy and also permit from Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) for releasing the supply,” FAPCCI said in a release here. As there is absolutely no incentive for efficiency to farmers, the pump sets are running 18 per cent to 20 per cent efficiency only. With proper use of capacitors, good quality winding and bearings, the efficiency of the pump can be increase up to 60 per cent which means that more than 50 per cent of the power is being wasted, FAPCCI said. It further said as free power is being provided to farmers and that too at odd times, the pump sets of farmers are working for full-time leading to wastage of water and reduction in the water table in the state. Even when there is a shortage of 10-18 per cent of power, cut for the industry has been a magnitude of 40-60 per cent. This has resulted in shortfall of supply to industry and also resulted in huge losses to the discoms, it added. PTI
