Giving  a major relief to the farming community, Andhra Pradesh government is contemplating to replace inefficient and obsolete agriculture pumpsets with 5 star rated/high energy efficient pumpsets  free of cost in New Year.

As part of  new initiatives in energy efficiency activities in the state during 2016, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has directed the State Energy Conservation Mission (SECM), to implement the scheme of Energy Efficiency Agrl Pumpset Scheme (EEAPS) in a phased manner as a New Year gift-2016 to the farming community.

The Chief Minister has categorically directed that the scheme should be implemented without putting even a single rupee burden on farmers. “We have created wonders in the performance of the power sector, in particular energy efficiency front, in a span of one and half year. We bagged all prestigious national awards. We have to carry forward this spirit and should try to place this state in  an envious position so that all other states should emulate us .” the CM said.

While carrying out the year-end review of the performance of power sector in the state, the Chief Minister insisted that cost of the energy efficient pumpsets should not be a deterrent though it costs more than Rs.50,000 on an average. In response, Ajay Jain, Secretary (Energy, I&I, CRDA) has briefed the Chief Minister about the ongoing Rajanagaram pilot project wherein about 2,500 existing pumpsets are going to be replaced with energy efficiency pumpsets and so far about 150 pumpsets have been replaced.

Jain said the performance results of the new pumpsets was  very encouraging and farmers were expressing satisfaction over the increased discharge of water to the extent of 15%. As per the test results the pumpserts are yielding about 30% Energy efficiency gain, Jain said.