Gandhinagar: The Gujarat government provided a total subsidy of ₹18,004 crore to farmers over the past two years to ease their electricity bill payments, Energy Minister Kanu Desai informed the Legislative Assembly on Monday. The subsidy amounted to ₹8,233 crore in 2022-23 and ₹9,771 crore in 2023-24.

Responding to questions during the Question Hour, Desai highlighted that the state has granted 14 lakh new agricultural electricity connections in the past two decades, bringing the total number to over 21 lakh. Farmers have also been exempted from paying the difference in electricity tariff, electricity duty, and fuel surcharge. Notably, there has been no increase in the electricity tariff for farmers in the last 20 years.

In response to Congress leader Amit Chavda’s question regarding the declining subsidy amount despite an increase in the number of farmers, Desai clarified that the reduction was due to lower fuel charges imposed by power generation companies. DeshGujarat