Gujarat Cong announces sops for farmers; promises 16 hours power

The Gujarat Congress on Thursday promised 16 hours of uninterrupted electricity supply and several other sops to farmers in the state if it forms the next government.

Senior state Congress leaders including State President Arjun Modhwadia, Leader of Opposition Shaktisinh Gohil and Election Campaign Committee Chairman Shankarsinh Vaghela, while addressing the media here also assured new electricity connections to 10 lakh farmers.

The party leadership while announcing their 12-point Gujarat Praja Vikas Darshan also announced the removal of Dark Zone from the state.

The Gujarat government had declared 'Dark Zone' in such areas where ground water level has depleted to alarming levels and have banned new electric connections to farmers in there.

"In the past 17 years, BJP government has done nothing for farmers of the state and instead it has discontinued every scheme and programme benefitting them. Congress government will revive all those schemes," said Modhwadia.

Among various sops offered today to the voters of the state include removing the ban on providing new connections in the Dark Zone areas, discontinuing the metered electricity to the farmers, giving them power supply with proper voltage, 90 per cent subsidy to the pumps using solar or wind power, equiping 18000 villages with solar street lights.

Congress leaders have also promised to hold electricity companies and its officials responsible if new connections were not given within six months of application for the same.

The Congress today alleged that during the past so many years, BJP government has never bothered to maintain and implement consistent policy for giving affordable price to peanut and cotton growers.

"If we will form the next government than we will allot Rs 10,000 crore corpus fund for effective market intervention so that farmers would get good prices of their crops," said Gohil.

Alleging Modi government for neglecting the Narmada Canal network, Congress promised that their government will finish 74,600 km of the Narmada Canal work within three years to provide water for the irrigation in 18 lakh hectare land situated in the Narmada Command area.

They also promised withdrawl of criminal cases lodged against farmers in the name of electricity thefts and also to revive schemes like cash doles, seed packs, cattle camps to equip the farmers to ride through the water scarcity situation.