Chief Minister’s Important Decision in the Interest of Farmers – ‘Agricultural Connections to be Issued Immediately in Feeders Linked to Decentralized Solar Plants’

Jaipur, Aug 2025 : Chief Minister Shri Bhajanlal Sharma has taken an important decision in the interest of the farmers of the state. Now, in the 33/11 KV sub-station areas connected to decentralized solar energy plants set up under the PM-KUSUM scheme, agricultural connections will be issued immediately on a priority basis. For this, the Chief Minister has also approved an amendment to the Agriculture Connection Policy-2017. All three power distribution corporations of the state have issued orders in this regard.

With this decision of the Chief Minister, demand notes for agricultural connections will be issued separately and on priority for applicants on feeders emanating from 33/11 KV substations according to the capacity of such solar energy plants. After the submission of the demand note, applicants will be immediately issued connections on priority.

Reduction in Waiting List for Agricultural Connections

At present, under the Agriculture Connection Policy-2017, demand notes for applicants of general category agricultural connections are issued according to the cut-off date declared by the state government. After the demand note is deposited, the priority of issuing the connection is maintained as per the date of the original application. On the other hand, demand notes for other categories—drip, diggi (water reservoir), or urban area applicants—are issued immediately on a priority basis. For these applicants, the priority of issuing the connection is maintained according to the date of submission of the demand note.

Currently, as per the cut-off date of 22 February 2022, connections are due to general category applicants. At present, 78,498 agricultural connections are pending in the state, for which demand notes have already been deposited. In addition, 2,27,913 new applications have been received thereafter.

Utilisation of Production Capacity of Decentralized Solar Plants

It is noteworthy that under Component-A and Component-C of the PM-KUSUM scheme, work is progressing rapidly on the ground in the state. About 776 decentralized solar energy plants with a capacity of around 1,543 MW have been established in villages and hamlets of the state. Out of these, plants with a capacity of 1,420 MW have been installed within just one and a half years. From these solar plants, more than one lakh agricultural consumers have started receiving electricity during the day for farming.

These plants are set up within a 5-kilometer radius of an electricity sub-station. With this decision of the Chief Minister, the electricity generated during the daytime from solar energy plants will be used in the agricultural sector, and a large number of farmers will be issued agricultural connections. This will also reduce the number of pending applications for agricultural connections.