Punjab to Give Free Solar System for Drip Irrigation and Sprinklers to Farmers

The Punjab government has announced that it will give free solar systems for drip irrigation and sprinklers to farmers who own less than 12 acres of land in a bid to boost the agriculture sector of the province.

Taking to Twitter, Kissan Pakistan, a news source for the agriculture sector, shared the application form, which has to be filled out by farmers who want to get free solar panels.

In order to be eligible for the scheme, farmers have to make sure that they fulfill government-defined criteria. Below are the mentioned conditions that farmers have to fulfill:

Farmers must

• Have sufficient water resources on their land.
• Have acquired drip/sprinkler facility or are in process of getting it through the Punjab Irrigated-Agriculture Productivity Improvement Project (PIPIP).
• Be responsible for the maintenance and operations of the solar system.
• Use the solar system for drip irrigation and sprinklers only.
• Not sell the solar system in the first two years of acquisition.
• Be responsible for the security or malfunction of the solar panels.
• Adhere to the decisions of PIPIP and its officials.
• Not challenge those decisions in the courts.
• Must not be a defaulter of any government department.
• Must get training for operations and maintenance of solar systems from the Irrigation Department’s Training Institute in Lahore.
• Not provide incorrect or false details in the application form.

Separately, Federal Power Division stated that the global monetary organization, the World Bank (WB), would provide over $3 billion for infrastructure development in the energy sector of the country.

In this regard, the WB’s high-level delegation under the leadership of its Regional Director met with the Federal Minister for Energy, Khurram Dastgir, earlier this month.