Patiala : More than 13,000 farmers who had applied for power connections for tube wells in the general category till March 1990 may be given connections by the end of March next by the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB). The farmers had applied for connections and had also got test reports with the PSEB by the end of March in 1990. But the PSEB did not release connections as it was not in a position to bear the load due to power shortage. The previous Congress regime had released about 4.25 lakh connections to farmers through general and reserve quota, but farmers who had applied for connections till the end of March 1990 still did not get power connections. The Shiromani Akali Dal-led Punjab government approved more than 40,000 power connections, of which more than 25,000 have already been released. The PSEB, according to chairman Y.S. Ratra, had decided to release connection to all 13,000 applicants who had applied till March 1990 keeping in view the demands of various farmers' unions. "Power connections will be released only to those whose test reports have been received. Orders have been issued to release all such connections by March 3,2009,' said Ratra. There is, however, no headway in OYT (own your transformer) connections, the release of which had been stalled by the Chief Minister in July following charges of corruption in the release of such connections. A Vigilance Bureau probe has already been initiated in the matter and a number of PSEB officials are said to be involved in it.