Farmers on power trip

Gandhinagar, April 27: A group of Mehsana farmers, all members of the Bharatiya Janata Party's farmers' wing Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, barged i...

Gandhinagar, April 27: A group of Mehsana farmers, all members of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s farmers’ wing Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, barged into the official chamber of Minister of State for Energy Kaushik Patel and shouted slogans denouncing the government for not keeping its promise to supply adequate power to the farm sector.

More than 200 farmers from Mehsana district, led by BKS leaders Virsang Chaudhary and Shankar Chaudhary, descended on the Sachivalaya premises here this afternoon to protest against, what they described as the government’s criminal apathy towards the power problem “we have been facing in the district for the last one month”.

Raising slogans “Jai Jawan Jai Kisan” and “Bharat Mata ki Jai”, the irate ryots climbed up to fourth floor of Block 2 of the Sachivalaya, where the Energy Minister’s chamber is located. Some of them barged into the minister’s office and had a virtual showdown with him on the contentious issue of inadequate and erratic power supply to their farms.

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Forced to go on the defensive by members of his own party’s farmers’ wing, Patel repeatedly tried to pacify the slogan-shouting group.

“Our summer crops have started withering away due to inadequate and erratic power supply. You had promised to supply power for 12 to 16 hours every day, but we’re receiving power for only 8 hours a day, that too at a low voltage, the BKS leaders shouted at Patel. “We will be forced to launch an agitation if the situation does not improve.”

The farmers complained that summer crops like bajri and even fodder were being adversely affected by the low power supply. Heavy financial losses were inevitable if timely measures were not taken by the government, they said, adding that power supply for at least 12 hours was necessary to save the withering crops.

The BKS leaders alleged that a number of farmers in the district had their electric motors burnt due to the low-voltage power. “You visit our farms and see our plight for yourself”, they told the minister.

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Scoffing at the government’s so-called “summer plan”, the farmers said, “The repeated announcements of adequate power supply have proved hollow. Within minutes of assuming office, Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel had said his government would accord top priority to power and water. What happened to the promise?”

The farmers agreed to leave — albeit unsatisfied — after Patel assured them a 12-hour supply would be maintained within the next few days and that he would visit their areas to take stock of the situation.

Later, Principal Secretary in the Energy Department G Subbarao said Gujarat expected to receive 200 MW of power from Maharashtra by next week. A team of GEB officials was sent to Mumbai today to negotiate with their Maharashtra counterparts in this regard.

Besides, the Gujarat Alkalies Company Ltd near Vadodara and the Oil and Natural Gas Corpohration have agreed to supply 40 MW and 30 MW of power to the GEB, he said.