Centre's help needed to waive power bills of farmers

Bhopal, Mar 10 (UNI) The Madhya Pradesh government today said in the state Assembly that electricity bills of farmers would be waived completely if the Centre provided funds.

Revenue Minister Kamal Patel gave the assurance while responding to supplementary questions by Mr Sukhdev Panse (Cong) during the Question Hour.

Pointing out that several parts of the state had been hit by drought and other natural calamities, Mr Patel said the government would not allow dearth of funds to come in the way of relief work and distribution of compensation.

He said the government had demanded Rs 24,243 crore from the Centre. A delegation had met the Prime Minister in this regard recently. The electricity bills of peasants would be waived completely if the Centre provided help.

Mr Patel informed that half of the power bills of farmers and penalty on it had been waived by the state government already. Power tariff for farmers would be reduced from Rs 1.20 per unit to Rs 0.75 per unit from next month.

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