Lucknow, Sep 21 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh energy minister Arvind Kumar Sharma on Wednesday said that the government will not provide free electricity to farmers for using private tube wells to irrigate their crops.

On the third day of the monsoon session of the state legislative assembly, Sharma gave this information in response to a question by Rashtriya Lok Dal member Ajay Kumar.

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Kumar had asked whether the government would consider providing free electricity for private tube wells with a view to reduce the cost of crops and increase the income of the farmers of the state and if not why?

Responding to this, the minister said that in order to reduce the cost, only Rs 85 per horsepower per month is being charged from farmers, against the prevailing rates of electricity of Rs 720 per horsepower per month.

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By doing so, a discount of 88.19 per cent is being provided to the agricultural consumers in the electricity rates. Sharma added that in such a situation there is no question of providing free electricity to farmers for private tube wells.

Leader of opposition Akhilesh Yadav said that when his party talked about giving free electricity to farmers during the state election, big leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also announced free power, but now they are not fulfilling their promise.

The energy minister said that no government cares for the farmers more than Yogi Adityanath's government.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)