Last updated: February 19th, 2020 11:03 AM

Saur Krishi Vahini Scheme

The Maharashtra State Government has launched a scheme called Saur Krishi Vahini Scheme, by which solar energy will be used to provide electricity to the farmers. The Chief Minister has proposed to install solar panels in various regions in the state to generate solar electricity. Through this Scheme, all the farmers' community will get electricity supply in their homes. The Scheme was announced in 2017 by the Chief Minister, but it is yet to be implemented. The government has allocated Rs. 3,700 crores to implement this scheme.

Objective

The Scheme aims to provide cheap electricity to the farmers who are unable to meet the cost of electricity. Electricity is available at a low price so that the entire farming community can use electricity.

Features of the Scheme

The features of the Scheme are as follows:

• The Scheme provides Solar Feeder to farmers and ensures that farmers receive a power supply of 12 hours, which can be utilized for farming
• The State Government has already completed the approval process for the installation of the solar panels
• Installation of 500 MW
• Installation of solar panels on the farmers' land
• The farmers would lend their lands to the Government on rent for 15 years for the implementation of this Scheme
• Only poor and marginal farmers can avail the benefits of this Scheme. Therefore, a total of 4000 farmers can get 20 MW of electricity power through this Scheme

Benefits

The eligible farmers can avail the following benefits from the Scheme:

• Continuous electricity at a low price where the cost of electricity per unit will be between Rs.1.2 and Rs.3
• There will be low implicit cost since the power development units will be controlled
• Solar electricity will be eco-friendly, and it will last longer, thereby farmers get electricity for long hours at a low price

Implementation of the Scheme

The Scheme is still in the experimental stage. There are only two places where the units are in process. They are Latur and Solapur. The Scheme has used Agro-Pumps that supplies electricity to every house for 12 hours.