With the demand for agricultural power connections increasing sharply across the State, the Congress government in Rajasthan has decided to conduct a survey to assess the use of lignite as a long-term solution for power production as an alternative to coal. The State has extensive lignite deposits in its western region and Bikaner district.
Rajasthan has been getting coal from Parsa East and Kante Basin in Chhattisgarh for its thermal power plants, but the availability from the captive mines is getting affected because of near exhaustion in the first phase. The lignite mining capacity of 10 lakh tonnes is available in Bikaner district’s Gudha West.
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said at a review meeting of the Energy Department here this week that 2.31 lakh agricultural power connections would be released during the first phase in 2022-23 and 2.58 lakh in the second phase during 2023-24. “The State government is committed to providing cheap electricity to farmers along with an uninterrupted power supply,” he said.
