Encouraging the farmers for optimal utilization of groundwater, the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) on Sunday organized camps at different villages across the State to apprise the farmers about the state government’s Direct Benefit Transfer Electricity (DBTE) scheme.

A score of farmers participated in the camps and exhibit their interest to avail the benefits of the scheme.

“The Department is organizing awareness camps across the State from time to time to encourage farmers to enroll for the scheme. Due to COVID-19, the door-to-door enrollment campaign was suspended in March, but now the enrollment drive has been resumed on all 256 feeders while taking all necessary precautions,” said PSPCL Director (Distribution) DPS Grewal.

Grewal said that after the success of the scheme’s pilot project on six agriculture feeders in Fatehgarh Sahib, Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur districts, the scheme was extended covering 250 feeders across the State in 2019, to provide benefit to around 52,000 farmers.

“Till date, over 2,000 farmers in these feeders have been given Rs 66 lakh subsidy for judicious use of water,” he said adding that the scheme provides monetary incentives to the farmers and aims to improve efficiency in the use of groundwater for agriculture.

Notably, the DBTE scheme was launched under the State Government’s ‘Pani Bachao Paisa Kamao” campaign in 2018 with an aim to save groundwater level by restraining farmers from pumping out excessive water from the ground.

Grewal said that this scheme is completely voluntary for the farmers to join, and no bill shall be issued to the farmer for using electricity, rather farmers will be paid money for judicious use of water.

He urged the farmers to become part of this scheme and help save the precious groundwater of Punjab.