Southern States - Tamil Nadu   

Farmers rearing fish sore over power tariff hike

By Our Staff Reporter

Thanjavur May 18. It is not just farmers cultivating paddy in Thanjavur district who are sore over withdrawal of free power supply for their pumpsets. Farmers who took to inland fish farming are also an unhappy lot. For, they find the tariff levied by the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board too high.

Many farmers in the delta districts of Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam districts have put up freshwater fish-ponds to eke out a living. As they find the tariff too high, many are now abandoning the ponds.

There are nearly 300-350 ponds in the three districts, covering an area of 2,000-2,500 acres. The farmers need power to lift water from borewells to the ponds and to maintain a certain level. They use electricity also for lights around the pond.

But the TNEB has put the ponds in the commercial category and a tariff of Rs. 5.80 per unit is collected.

``Our production cost works out to Rs. 15-25 a kg. We sell the fish at Rs. 35-40 a kg, but we pay Rs. 6 a kg as power charge,'' say the farmers. "I pay Rs. 10,000 bimonthly for a 2.5-acre pond," said another farmer.

The farmers rear varieties like `katla', `rohu' and `mrihal'. Unlike prawns, which are exported, the fish is sold only in the local market. The farmers wanted the State Government to follow the Andhra Pradesh model where payment is on horsepower basis.

Experts say that the fish-ponds help in many ways, including re-charging groundwater and providing employment.

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