B.S. Satish Kumar With tax cuts, Yeddyurappa will find it tough to fund poll promises Money for milk, rice subsidy remains a problem Escoms want quarterly payment of power subsidy BANGALORE: The promise of supplying free power to irrigation pumpsets of farmers will be an expensive affair for the B.S. Yeddyurappa Government as it may have to find an additional subsidy of about Rs. 875 crore a year. This will push up the power subsidy to Rs. 2,575 crore from Rs. 1,700 crore now. Political circles wonder how the Chief Minister will find money to keep the promise of free power supply to farmers. There is an apprehension that cut in sales and entry taxes on diesel and petrol may put pressure on State's finances. It is going to be a tightrope walk for Mr. Yeddyurappa as in addition to these measures, he has to find money for promises made during the Assembly elections. The BJP had promised to provide rice at Rs. 2 a kg and waiver of loans under housing schemes such as Ashraya and Indira Awas Yojana. The Chief Minister had promised to create a revolving fund of Rs. 500 crore for offering minimum support price for agricultural produce. There was a promise to provide a subsidy of Rs. 2 a litre for milk for dairy farmers, which is estimated to cost Rs. 200 crore annually. Besides this, he needs to gather resources for continuing the welfare measures taken up during his earlier tenure as Deputy Chief Minister. Any delay in the implementation of the promises, especially free power, milk subsidy and floating of revolving fund would provide ammunition to the Opposition in the context of the recent police firing on farmers in Haveri. It is learnt that all five electricity supply companies (Escoms) in the State have insisted that the government make quarterly payments of the additional subsidy incurred on account of free supply of power to farmers instead of one-time payment. Staggered and regular payments would ease their cash flow position, say sources. The additional subsidy a quarter to the Escoms will amount to Rs. 219 crore. At present, farmers who own irrigation pumpsets are levied an average subsidised tariff of 54 paise a unit compared to the normal tariff of about Rs. 3.90 a unit. However, according to sources relying on official statistics, on an average only 10 per cent of the amount billed by Escoms is paid by farmers.