Inadequate power supply in paddy season irks farmers

Amritsar, June 20

Amid the ongoing paddy season, the farmers are finding it difficult to complete their work due to long power cuts. The power breakdowns have come even as the government assured an eight hour supply to the tube-wells on a daily basis. Farmers in many areas stated that actual power supply to the tube-wells is much less than what the government promised.

Farmers in Sukharchak village of Tarn Taran district complained that they were getting only two hours of power supply as technical faults occur frequently due to old and worn out transmission lines. “By the time the Power Corporation employees rectify one fault in an area, another fault occurs at some other place which forces them to switch off electricity,” said a farmer.

The farmers complained that though the area has canal water supply for irrigation, there are fields which are dependent on tube-wells. They stated that eight hour power supply should be given in one go and not in phases.

Sukhchain Singh, another farmer from the border belt, said, “The transmission lines in rural areas are old which tend to develop snags after short intervals. Moreover, the trees under the transmission lines are also problematic as these are not pruned.” He said that the government should have planned to overcome all obstacles in the way of uninterrupted power supply before the start of paddy season.

Apart from power supply for tube-wells, the residential consumers in rural areas too are bearing the brunt of long power cuts. “We are facing power cuts of almost eight hours daily. It becomes difficult when these cuts are applied during the night,” said Gurinder Kaur, a local resident, adding that the cuts were earlier applied to protect the fields from farm fires and now due to increased demand for electricity.