Thousands of farmers across Gujarat are protesting at their taluka and district headquarters demanding adequate power supply to save standing crops.
On Friday, protests were held at more than 75 places as erratic and inadequate power has forced angry farmers on to the streets demanding increasing supply to run pumps for irrigation. The anger had its echo in the State Assembly also where over a dozen Opposition legislators protested at the entrance to the Legislature.
“Farmers anywhere in the State are not getting even three hours power supply against the State government’s claim of six hour supply,” said Dhoraji Congress legislator Lalit Vasoya, who removed his shirt along with another legislator during their protest.
“In my area, coconut farmers are in tears as they can’t run motor pumps to water their coconut plants which are drying. They need sustained supply of 7-8 hours which is not being provided by the State owned power utilities,” said Vimal Chudasama, another Congress MLA from Somnath.
“I get almost 100 calls from farmers from my constituency asking me to help them in getting supply. It’s a massive crisis. They don’t even sleep at night because the power company sometime supplies electricity at night,” Mr. Chudasama told The Hindu.
For last two weeks, the farmers have been protesting at the district level seeking increase in electricity supply. A few days back, State Agriculture Minister Raghavji Patel had met the Energy Minister to resolve the power crisis.
“We had a meeting with the Energy Minister, who has assured us that farmers will be provided 6-8 hour supply every day from today,” Mr Patel had told media persons on March 16.
However; there has been little improvement in supply since the Minister’s assurance as reflected in the statewide protests held on Friday. Ruling party leaders and legislators have admitted in private that the power crisis has worsened with increase in demand for agriculture.
In Gujarat, the State power utilities long separated the feeders supplying power for agriculture and domestic use and limit the agricultural supply for eight hours depending on availability. However, farmers contend that they are not getting power even for four hours for last few months, prompting them to protest.
On Friday, the protests were held in Patan, Banaskantha, Mehsana, parts of Vadodara district, most of the districts headquarters in Saurashtra region and other places. There were also reports of farmers and officials/ employees of the power utilities getting into heated arguments over the supply.
Following the protests, the Gujarat government spokesman and Cabinet Minister Jitu Vaghani accused the Opposition party of instigating farmers for political motives. “The Congress party leaders are instigating farmers against the State government,” M. Vaghani told media persons even as he evaded questions on why the government was not able to supply power as per the requirements.
So far, except the statements from Mr. Patel and Cabinet spokesperson Jitu Vaghani, the State government has remained silent on the widening gap between demand and supply of electricity.
