The Chhattisgarh Government provided power connections to irrigation pumps of as many as 25,510 farmers during the previous financial year.
If one goes by data since November 30, 2003, the State now has a total of 96,265 irrigation pumps electrified, according to Principal Secretary, Energy Department, Aman Kumar Singh.
He informed that as per the demands made by farmers, temporary power connections for irrigation pumps were also provided.
During 2014, a total of 21,680 temporary power connections for irrigation pumps were provided, he said, adding, the Government had also been extending grants for extension of power lines for irrigation pumps.
The grant offered per farmer for power supply to irrigation pumps is Rs75,000.
A total of 240 solar pumping units have been established in Chhattisgarh by the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) under its solar pumping programme for irrigation and drinking water under off-grid and decentralized solar applications scheme.
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has launched solar pumping programme for irrigation and drinking water under off-grid and decentralized solar applications scheme for 1,00,000 pumps during 2014-15.
This was stated by Union Minister of State for Power, Coal & New and Renewable Energy (Independent Charge) Piyush Goyal in a written reply to a question earlier in the Rajya Sabha.
The number of solar pumps installed in various states is as follows- Chhattisgarh ( 240), Bihar 139, Haryana (469), Assam 45, Goa (15), Gujarat ( 85), Himachal Pradesh ( 6), J&K (39), Karnataka ( 551), Kerala ( 810), Madhya Pradesh ( 87), Maharashtra ( 239), Manipur ( 40), Meghalaya ( 19), Mizoram( 37), Nagaland ( 3), Orissa ( 56), Punjab ( 1857), Rajasthan ( 11,603), Tamil Nadu ( 829), Tripura ( 151), Uttar Pradesh ( 1348), Uttarakhand ( 26), West Bengal ( 48), Andman & Nicobar ( 5), Chandigarh ( 12), Delhi ( 90), Puducherry (21), Andhra Pradesh ( 613)
The Minister further stated that for this purpose, Rs400 Crores have been allocated for current Financial Year. So far, 19,501 Solar pumps for irrigation have been installed in the country, he stated.
Notably, there are 3000 drinking water pumps operated by solar energy have been installed in Chhattisgarh, officials here stated.
Notably, Chhattisgarh also ranks first in the country in terms of providing drinking water through solar powered pumps, officials stated.
Out of the total number of solar pumps installed in the entire country in financial year 2013-14, nearly 90 per cent of the solar pumps were installed in Chhattisgarh only, they claimed.
The Chhattisgarh Renewable Energy Development Agency (CREDA) under its ‘Hot Water Supply Scheme’ has established a plant in insurgency infested Kanker district of insurgency infested Bastar region to supply 10,100 litres of hot water per day to the various government and private establishments.