PSPCL launches second phase of Paani Bachao Paisa Kamao scheme

Punjab State Power Corporation Limited
Public Relations Office
Press Note, Jalandhar July 26,2019

“Paani Bachao Paisa Kamao”

Today a Capacity Building Workshop on “Paani Bachao Paisa Kamao” scheme of Government of Punjab was organised by Punjab State Power Corporation in the PSPCL Jalandhar Zone office. This workshop was inaugurated by Er. NK Sharma Director Distribution Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd. Er. NK Sharma Director Distribution PSPCL informed that Pani Bachao Paise Kamao scheme has been launched by Government of Punjab with an aim to motivate farmers to improve efficiency in the use of ground water for agriculture by providing them monetary incentives. The State Government had launched the Pilot for “Paani Bachao Paisa Kamao” scheme in June 2018 on 6 Agriculture feeders in Fatehgarh Sahib, Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur Districts. Till date more than 200 farmers in these feeders have been given 15.74 Lac subsidy for judicious use of water. After the success of “Paani Bachao Paisa Kamao” pilot on 6 feeders Punjab Government has decided to extend the scheme, starting with additional 250 feeders, the notification for the same was issued on 20 June 2019. Er Sharma further informed that this scheme is completely voluntary for the farmers to join, and no bill shall be issued to the farmer for using electricity, rather farmers will be paid money for judicious use of water. He urged the farmers to become part of this scheme and help save the precious ground water of Punjab. Besides PSPCL and Agriculture Department two number agencies i.e. The Work Bank and J-PAL and supporting in implementation of this scheme on 250 feeders across Punjab. The World Bank is supporting the Government of Punjab in implementing the scheme in feeders in the Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur districts along with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), IT Power India (ITPI), and Punjab Agriculture University (PAU). Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), a research organisation based out of MIT, USA, has been instrumental in conceptualising the scheme design, would be responsible for evaluating the scheme in 150 of the 250 feeders selected for the expansion. It was also informed that Capacity Building workshops are being organised all across Punjab for successful implementation of this scheme. PSPCL and Agriculture officials after being trained in these capacity building workshops are organising camps for enrollment of farmers in “Paani Bachao Paisa Kamao” scheme on the selected 250 feeders in eight number districts i.e. Bathinda, Fathegarh Sahib, Ferozepur, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Ludhiana, Moga, Patiala, Roopnagar and SBS Nagar. The capacity building workshop was addressed by Er. Sanjiv Kumar Chief Engineer North Zone, Er. Pradeep Gupta Chief Engineer Commercial, Er. Harjinder Singh Bansal Dy Chief Engineer Jalandhar Circle, Chief Agriculture Officer Jalandhar, Chief Agriculture Officer Nawashahar, Sh Arvind Jhamb & Sh Gaurav Upadhaya from World Bank, Ms Soumya Kochhar from J-PAL, Ms Navsudeep Sandhu from TERI and other speakers from PSPCL. This workshop was attended by about 60 no. officers and officials from the agriculture department, soil and water conservation dept. and PSPCL engineers.

Issued by Dy.Secretary /P.R./PSPCL,
Press Note 76, July 26,2019