VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Pradesh secured first place in the country in providing electricity connections to the agriculture sector, according to the 2022-23 annual Twenty-Point Programme-2006 (TPP) report which is released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
Rajasthan and Telangana bagged the second and third places respectively. As against the target of 24,852 power connections, the Andhra Pradesh government provided 1,24,311 connections to the farm sector with zero pendency. Andhra Pradesh is the only State in the country to provide more than one lakh electricity connections to the agriculture sector.
As per the TPP, the aim was to provide power connections to 4,54,081 pump sets in agriculture fields across the country. As against the target, 7,35,338 connections were given and of the total, 1,24,311 were provided in Andhra Pradesh alone.
Rajasthan gave 99,137 connections against its target of 44,770, while Telangana provided 89,183 connections against the target of 25,148. Punjab stood last as the State provided only 524 connections as against its target of 1.5 lakh.
Expressing happiness over AP topping the chart, special chief secretary (energy) K Vijayanand attributed the success to Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and Energy Minister Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy.
“The Chief Minister made it clear that there should not be any pending applications for power connection to farms and accordingly we have cleared 1,24,311 applications,” he explained. Further, he added, “As soon as an application is submitted, power connection is provided without any delay.”