Agricultural tube wells: Govt to provide subsidised electricity

PM directed the Ministry of Finance to issue a notification to the effect after completion of all formalities.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, on Friday, decided to subsidise the electricity supplied to 15,660 registered agricultural tube-wells in Balochistan. The decision was made by the premier when a delegation of the Zamindar Action Committee along with the Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani met him at the PM house. Ashraf said that the electricity charges pertaining to agricultural tube-wells will be shared by the owners, provincial and central governments. It was decided that the owners of the tube-wells will pay a fixed cost of Rs6,000 per month while 60% of the balance bill will be picked up by the provincial government and 40% by the government. He directed the Ministry of Finance to issue a notification to the effect after completion of all necessary formalities. The prime minister said that Balochistan was one of the topmost priorities of the government and if it had the fiscal space, it would not have hesitated to provide more relief to the farmers of Balochistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 3^rd, 2012.