State seeks relief for amount spent on buying power
Ruchika M Khanna
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 10
In poll mode, Haryana has no inclination to declare itself drought-hit. While other rain-deficit states are set to avail of the subsidies being doled out by the Government of India, Haryana, which is preparing for the Assembly elections, is unwilling to avail of these benefits, fearing farmer and political upheaval arising out of admitting to a drought. Instead, the state is seeking largesse on the pretext of ensuring “good productivity in difficult times”.

In spite of a rain deficit of over 52 per cent this year, Haryana is simply admitting to “prevailing of drought-like conditions in the state.” In its representation to the Government of India, the state has said that though the area under major kharif crops like paddy, jowar, guar and sugarcane is much less than last year, it is not drought-hit. The crops that have been sown in the fields are doing well and productivity will not be hit, as “we have managed to supply adequate power to the farm sector to run tubewells and irrigate the fields”.

Sources told The Tribune that the state government just wanted the Centre to compensate it for the Rs 1,700 crore that it had spent this year on buying additional power to supply to farmers. A senior state government official, requesting anonymity, said this year an additional Rs 1,007 crore had been spent on buying power for the farm sector, because of the deficit in rainfall and the slow flow of water from the Yamuna and Bhakhra. “By declaring ourselves as drought-hit, we will get minor benefits like 50 per cent subsidy on buying diesel for running tubewells. So, Haryana is seeking compensation for the amount it has already spent on purchasing power to ensure water supply to the fields,” said the official.