Free electricity for irrigation pumpsets of farmers being offered by governments through various schemes appears to have proved costly for the State-owned Gulbarga Electricity Supply Company (GESCOM). With government subsidy dues growing, GESCOM is forced to borrow from various financial institutions to manage its operations and ultimately, transfer the burden onto consumers by increasing power tariff.
The State Government began offering free electricity for pumpsets in 2007-08 and subsidy dues payable to GESCOM continued to pile up every year as the government made partial payment for the power consumed by the beneficiaries. By December last year, the principal irrigation pumpset subsidy dues stood at ₹1,470.34 crore and interest calculated at 12% per annum and charged on dues every year grew to ₹1,733.43 crore, thus taking gross dues to ₹3,203.77 crore.
