45k farmers in Jodhpur look for better electricity supply

Jodhpur: More than 45,000 farmers from 180 villages of Jodhpur district are now looking forward to better power supply for their agricultural fields after calling off their 5-day-long ‘mahapadav’ sit-in protest on the assurance of senior officials of the regional discom.District president of the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, Ramnarayan Jangu, said that the decision to call ofd the sit-in protest was taken following five rounds of talks with officials, including with the chief secretary, the energy minister, the power department secretary, and officials of the Jodhpur discom. “We will see what steps are taken by the discom officials in the next 2-3 days. We will plan our strategy of protest accordingly,” said Jangu. The discom officials agreed to install automatic capacitors at all the 33/11 KV grid sub stations by 15 October to maintain the voltage supply at 33,000 Volts, along with installation of LT capacitors at the tube-wells of the farmers, Jangu said.Also, a ‘block management plan’ for load balance will be put in place, for which senior officials of the discom will pay regular visits to all the 132 grid sub stations, he said. Jangu said that because of the poor and erratic power supply, farmers are not able to properly water their crops. “Crops have been drying up in many areas,” said Jangu.It has also been agreed to hold a grievance redressal meeting of the farmers with the chief engineer on the 7th of every month, Jangu said.Other demands of the farmers, pertaining to replacement of burnt transformers and pendency of connections despite the execution of demand notes by them, will also be taken up, officials assured.The discom has agreed to install connections by October 30 for all the 2,675 applicants who have executed their demand notes, Jangu said.Besides this, transformers will now be kept in reserve stock at sub-divisional level in order to expedite the replacement of the burnt transformers, officials have assured the farmers.