With consumption of power in the agriculture sector less than 2 per cent, one of the lowest in the country, the State Cabinet on Thursday approved the Energy department proposal for dedicated feeder lines for agriculture and fishery sectors to boost production and productivity in the two primary sectors.
The Cabinet meeting, presided over by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, approved the department proposal for dedicated power supply to the agriculture and fishery sectors at an estimated cost of Rs 1,000 crore. The project will be implemented within a period of four years. A provision of Rs 150 crore has been made in the budget for the current financial year.
Installation of dedicated feeders will ensure supply of quality power to agriculture and fishery sectors during off-peak hours and increase productivity in food grains as more agricultural land will be covered under assured irrigation, Chief Secretary J K Mohapatra told reporters after the meeting.
Further, it will support the fishermen community and people involved in pisciculture to enhance their production. Dedicated power supply will boost food and fish processing units as they will have infrastructure support like cold storage.
The department has identified 75 sub-stations from which dedicated feeder lines will be drawn for the two sectors. Separate feeder line will be given for irrigation and fishery activities in a cluster approach, Energy Secretary P K Jena said.
Areas having a good number of lift irrigation points, bore wells, shallow tube wells and deep bore wells are taken as a cluster.
With over 9,000 hectares under pisciculture in six coastal districts, the Cabinet decision will be a big support to the power distribution companies operating in these districts to develop dedicated supply line for fishery clusters. Meanwhile, three distribution companies (discoms) __ CESU, NESCO and SOUTHCO __ have submitted their plans and estimates to the Energy department.
The fishery clusters identified by the Fisheries department include Gudhpahi- Bardhanpur-Badkia in Balasore block, Kasaphala- Sartha in Balasore sadar block, Chudamani-Bideipur- Kaisa and Adhuan-Podhuan in Basudevpur block and Sunamuhi-Kaithakhola in Chandbali block of Bhadrak district, Astarang-Nuagada- Tikina in Astarang block and Amori cluster of Gop block in Puri district.
Talachua-Balarampur- Sikapur-Gupti cluster in Rajnagar block of Kendrapara district, Ersama-Gosaghar- Padampur cluster in Ersama block and Machgaon-Basanta cluster in Balikuda block of Jagatsinghpur district, and Sonapur-Baghamara cluster in Chikiti block of Ganjam district will be provided separate feeders for uninterrupted power supply. The new assets will be handed over to the discoms through a tripartite agreement for operation and maintenance.