BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday launched ‘Soura Jalanidhi’ scheme which aims at increasing use of solar energy for helping farmers in irrigation.‘Soura Jalanidhi’ is a dug well based solar pump irrigation system in convergence mode. Under the scheme, 5,000 solar pumps will be provided to farmers at a subsidy of 90 per cent to irrigate 2,500 acres of land.
The Chief Minister also launched the web portal of this scheme on the occasion. The event was attended by 1,000 farmers from 30 districts through video conference. In the first phase, the facility will be available to farmers where electricity is not supplied for operating pump sets.
The State Government has allocated `27.18 crore for implementation of the scheme. Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said, “I am extremely happy to launch Soura Jalanidhi scheme for our farmers. I hope they will reap the benefits of this scheme and script success stories.”
The Chief Minister distributed four go-ahead orders for installation of solar pump to the farmers. Farmers having valid farmer identification, belonging to small and marginal categories having minimum 0.5 acre cultivable land and a dug well will be covered under the programme. Agriculture Minister Pradeep Maharathi and senior officials were present.