News
Saturday, November 03, 2012
Subsidy announced for 15,660 tube wells in Balochistan* Raja urges farmers to install solar energy tube wells
* Hopes Baloch farmers will work hard for prosperity of Balochistan and progress of PakistanStaff Report
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on Friday decided to give subsidy on electricity provided to 15,660 registered agricultural tube wells in Balochistan.
The premier made this decision at a meeting with a delegation of the Zamindar Action Committee led by Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani at the Prime Minister’s House.
The prime minister said that the electricity charges pertaining to agricultural tube wells would be shared by the owners, provincial and federal governments. It was decided that the owners of the agricultural tube wells would pay a fix cost of Rs 6000 per month while 60 percent of the bill would be picked up by the provincial government and 40 percent by the federal government.
He directed the Finance Ministry to issue a notification after completion of all necessary formalities.
The PM said that Balochistan is one of the top most priorities of his government and if the federal government had the fiscal space it would have not hesitated in providing more relief to the farmers of Balochistan.
Raja said that he was aware that due to lowering of water table, tube wells in Balochistan have to be bored as deep as 1,000 feet. Therefore, it becomes difficult for farmers to bear the cost of their installation, the government therefore, would provide subsidy to the farmers by way of picking up a substantial portion of their electricity bills so that they could operate their tube wells, he assured.
The prime minister said that the long-term solution to the problems of electricity bills for farmers in Balochistan lied in use of tube wells run on solar energy. In this connection, he said that the federal government had provisions in its budget for installation of solar tube wells.
He urged the farmers of Balochistan to come forward and replace the existing tube wells with solar energy tube wells so that this issue could be resolved permanently.
The premier directed the provincial government to nominate its representative and asked the Zamindar Action Committee to nominate two members who should meet the authorities in the Planning Commission and finalise a criteria for installation of tube wells as well as the share of federal and provincial governments in their installation cost.
He said the real test would be “how quick and how many solar tube wells” were installed.
He urged the committee to identify illegal electricity connections of tube wells in Balochistan so that electricity charges could be recovered from them.
The PM said that the government was already providing a subsidy of Rs 3.50 per unit and could not afford that electricity dues remain unpaid. He urged the committee to help the government in the recovery of electricity dues from farmers in Balochistan.
The PM hoped that Baloch farmers would work hard for the prosperity of Balochistan and progress of Pakistan.Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk