West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari announced a Rs 2-per-unit electricity subsidy for agricultural consumption on Friday, saying the measure would benefit more than four lakh farmers and reduce individual cultivation-related power bills by Rs 25,000-30,000 a year.
The announcement was made at a government programme in East Burdwan, a major rice-producing district known as Bengal’s rice bowl. The state government is expected to spend around Rs 300 crore on the electricity subsidy, according to the chief minister’s statement reported by The Telegraph.
Adhikari also announced a Rs 200-per-quintal top-up on paddy procured by the government. With the minimum support price set at Rs 2,500 per quintal, eligible farmers will receive Rs 2,700 per quintal. The benefit will be available to farmers owning up to five acres of land.
The chief minister said the paddy procurement process would not involve touts, middlemen or rice millers who could cheat farmers. He directed legislators to remain vigilant and ensure that intermediaries did not interfere when farmers sold their produce to the government.
The announcements come after the Bharatiya Janata Party won 14 of East Burdwan’s 16 Assembly seats in the last election. BJP leaders cited the result as evidence that farmers in the agrarian district had supported the party. Adhikari said the government would provide the best possible support to farmers in Burdwan and to people in other districts with large farming populations.
The government also plans to announce a special package for potato cultivators in December this year. Adhikari said potato farmers had raised complaints about alleged anti-farmer policies and atrocities during his election campaign, without providing details of the proposed package.
Under another measure mentioned at the programme, farmers would receive a total of Rs 9,000 each through the PM-Kisan scheme, including a Rs 3,000 contribution from the state. The government would also pay Rs 4,000 annually to farmers, including those owning small stretches of agricultural land. The statement did not specify how the different payments would be administered or when the electricity subsidy would begin.
The chief minister also addressed the cost of construction materials. He said common people should be able to buy sand at lower prices and that the government could procure and sell it directly if required. Sand sourced from East Burdwan, Birbhum, Bankura and Hooghly is used in construction, and recent complaints about rising prices have added to building costs.
Adhikari said the government would close illegal sand mines and end the activities of sand mafias across the state. Sand mining is expected to resume in October, after which prices are expected to fall, according to the statement. He also announced that the government would move to implement the Uniform Civil Code and introduce laws concerning religious conversion, “love jihad” and “land jihad”, but did not provide timelines or legislative details.
