Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday launched a ‘Soura Jalanidhi’ scheme and its web portal at the State Secretariat here with an aim of encouraging use of solar energy in agriculture.
Under the scheme, farmers residing in the areas where there is lack of electricity would be provided with 5,000 solar pumps which would irrigate 2,500 acres of land.
The solar pumps would be given to the beneficiary farmers at a subsidy of 90 per cent. A total of Rs 27 crore would be spent for the programme, sources said.
“I am extremely happy to launch today ‘Soura Jalanidhi’ scheme for our farmers. I hope our farmers will reap the benefits of this scheme and script success stories,” the Chief Minister said.