Aadhaar linking for agricultural pump sets made mandatory

Bengaluru: The process of linking the RR numbers of agricultural pump sets to customers’ Aadhaar numbers has been quietly initiated by electricity supply companies (ESCOMs). Many pump sets have not been matched with the Aadhaar numbers, raising concerns among farmers about the potential loss of subsidies in the future.

Various government subsidy schemes, including guarantee schemes, have already been linked to Aadhaar. Continuing this practice, the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) mandated Aadhaar linking for agricultural pump sets in its 2024-25 electricity tariff revision order. ESCOMs are now collecting Aadhaar numbers from farmers with pump sets up to 10 HP capacity.

However, many RR numbers and Aadhaar numbers do not match. In several cases, the names have changed or been incorrectly printed. Farmers have reported that the pump sets are registered in the names of their fathers or grandfathers and have not been updated.

The linking process is currently in its initial stages, but there is growing concern about the potential loss of subsidies if the Aadhaar-RR number matching is not completed.

Approximately 34.17 lakh farmers in the state benefit from the government’s free electricity scheme for agricultural pump sets, with an estimated annual consumption of 21,000 million units of electricity. The subsidy amounting to around Rs. 10-11,000 crore is paid by the government to the respective ESCOMs.

Permission Required; Letter to Authority

Sources indicate that all ESCOMs, including BESCOM, have already collected farmers’ Aadhaar numbers and stored them with the corresponding RR numbers. However, they require permission from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to complete the linking process. A letter has been sent to UIDAI, and the linking will commence once permission is granted.

KERC’s Directive

KERC has directed a survey to determine the number of operational agricultural pump sets in the state and to install GPS devices on the pump sets. Following this, an audit of the pump sets will be conducted.

Objectives

• To ensure the subsidy provided by the government to ESCOMs matches actual electricity usage.
• To curb illegal pump sets.
• To verify that the subsidy reaches the genuine beneficiaries.
• To identify wealthy individuals receiving free electricity for pump sets.

 

Translated from a Kannada article by Vijaykumar Chandaragi