Punjab's farmers could look forward to the end of some of their
power-cut woes with the state government planning to launch soon a
"farm-level solar power generation scheme".
New and Renewable
Energy Minister Bikram Singh Majithia said farmers will be allowed to
set up solar power plants ranging from one MW to 2.5 MW.
"The initial target is being fixed at generation of 500 MW power under this scheme," Majithia said in a statement on Sunday.
He
said the scheme had been specially designed to meet the growing
challenges of land scarcity, high cost of land, alarming ground water
table situation and depleting soil health.
"There was no doubt
that agricultural production in state has reached a saturation point and
it is imperative for us to explore more and more avenues for enhancing
the income of farm sector. The time has come to develop entrepreneurial
skills among farmers which will further give them confidence for setting
up of agro-industries/food processing industries etc," Majithia said.
Punjab,
with just 1.54 percent of the country's geographical area, contributes
over 50 percent of food grains (wheat and paddy) to the Central kitty.
"Once
the scheme is launched, any land owning farmer having at least five
acres of land or small farmers joining hands to form a group can apply
jointly," he said.
The minister further said that farmers would be
free to fix their solar panels in such a design that they could use
their land for agricultural purposes also.
"The farmers can also
use power for their domestic or agricultural requirements and they will
be paid on monthly basis for the power they contribute to the power
sub-station," he said.
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