Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has announced a significant waiver of ₹48,000 crore in outstanding electricity bills for farmers utilizing agricultural pumps up to 7.5 HP, a move that will benefit over 55 lakh farmers and clear past arrears that previously hindered new connections. This waiver complements the existing Mukhyamantri Baliraja Mofat Veej Yojana, which already provides free electricity to agriculturalists and has seen a ₹14,700 crore provision for the current year, with an additional ₹25,000 crore allocated annually for compensating power companies for free power. This initiative, alongside a recent ₹2 lakh farm loan waiver costing the state approximately ₹37,000 crore and the Mukhymantri Saur Krishi Vahini Yojana aimed at providing 12 hours of solar power daily, reflects a broader government strategy to alleviate farmers' financial burdens, with Chief Minister Fadnavis expressing confidence in offsetting these increased financial commitments through enhanced revenue from industrial and service sectors.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has announced a significant waiver of ₹48,000 crore in outstanding electricity bills for farmers utilizing agricultural pumps up to 7.5 HP, a move that will benefit over 55 lakh farmers and clear past arrears that previously hindered new connections. This waiver complements the existing Mukhyamantri Baliraja Mofat Veej Yojana, which already provides free electricity to agriculturalists and has seen a ₹14,700 crore provision for the current year, with an additional ₹25,000 crore allocated annually for compensating power companies for free power. This initiative, alongside a recent ₹2 lakh farm loan waiver costing the state approximately ₹37,000 crore and the Mukhymantri Saur Krishi Vahini Yojana aimed at providing 12 hours of solar power daily, reflects a broader government strategy to alleviate farmers' financial burdens, with Chief Minister Fadnavis expressing confidence in offsetting these increased financial commitments through enhanced revenue from industrial and service sectors.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has announced a significant waiver of ₹48,000 crore in outstanding electricity bills for farmers utilizing agricultural pumps up to 7.5 HP, a move that will benefit over 55 lakh farmers and clear past arrears that previously hindered new connections. This waiver complements the existing Mukhyamantri Baliraja Mofat Veej Yojana, which already provides free electricity to agriculturalists and has seen a ₹14,700 crore provision for the current year, with an additional ₹25,000 crore allocated annually for compensating power companies for free power. This initiative, alongside a recent ₹2 lakh farm loan waiver costing the state approximately ₹37,000 crore and the Mukhymantri Saur Krishi Vahini Yojana aimed at providing 12 hours of solar power daily, reflects a broader government strategy to alleviate farmers' financial burdens, with Chief Minister Fadnavis expressing confidence in offsetting these increased financial commitments through enhanced revenue from industrial and service sectors.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's announcement of waiving ₹48,000 crore worth electricity bills dues of agriculture consumers has brought smiles to the face of troubled farmers across Maharashtra.

Fadnavis at his felicitation ceremony organised by his party’s farmers wing on Wednesday said that waiver is applicable to farmers using electric pumps up to 7.5 HP and this will be in addition to current free power given to agriculturalists.

Under Mukhyamantri Baliraja Mofat Veej Yojana a provision has been made of ₹14,700 crore for free electricity to farmers since 2024. The announcement made on Wednesday is in direction of clearing past arrears. These arrears often caused trouble to farmers when applying for new pump connections.

“Since our government came to power, we have given free electricity to farmers using agriculture pumps up to seven HP. For this, we make an annual budgetary allocation of Rs 25,000 crore to compensate power companies. But old pending bills continue to remain in every farmer’s name and they are asked to clear these dues when they seek a new electricity connection. To ensure farmers are not subjected to such pending bills, I have announced a complete electricity waiver,” he said.

This will also help Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company to wipe out its entire arrears burden as government will now bear the cost .

Fadnavis has been aggressively extending support to agricultural sector even when there are no elections around the corner. Already farm loans up to ₹2 lakh was waived a month ago. That will cost state government close to ₹37,000 crore. Then there is Mukhymantri Saur Krishi Vahini Yojana with a capacity of over 15,250 MW in order to give solar power to farmers for 12 hours during the day.

The farm loan waiver, free electricity and now past electricity bills arrears waivers are bound to be huge additions to state’s financial commitments, but Fadnavis is confident that by increasing revenue from industry and services sectors his government will be able to ease the troubles of farmers across the state. Approximate calculations suggest that all the schemes will benefit more than 55 lakh farmers in the state.