Scheduled Caste Sub Plan (SCSP): Electrification of Wells of Scheduled Caste Farmers

What is the SCSP scheme for electrification of wells?

Scheduled Caste Sub Plan (SCSP); Electrification of Wells of Scheduled Caste Farmers is a component of Gujarat's Energy and Petrochemicals Department programme, delivered through Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) and its four distribution companies. According to the department, the SCSP provides agricultural electricity connections to Scheduled Caste farmers on a priority basis, and it has run in this form since 2016-17.

An agricultural connection is not a wire from a nearby pole. To energise a well in the middle of a field, the distribution company has to erect poles, run high-tension and low-tension lines, and often build a transformer centre. Gujarat has cited an average cost of about Rs 1.73 lakh to provide a single agricultural power connection when poles, lines, transformers and High Voltage Distribution System work are counted. Left to the farmer, that capital cost is what keeps a well running on diesel for years.

Under the SCSP, the State Government makes the financial allocation as share capital to the distribution company for the HT and LT line and the transformer centre. The Scheduled Caste farmer pays only registration charges, the security deposit, agreement charges and test report charges. The procedural heads, not the infrastructure.

The funding is ring-fenced. The department's SCSP framework provides that at least 7.09% of the total annual scheme of the state be used only for the Scheduled Caste beneficiaries of the state, which is why an SC farmer's application moves in a dedicated queue rather than waiting behind the general list.

Gujarat runs the exact parallel for tribal areas as the Tribal Area Sub Plan (TASP), which electrifies wells and hamlets in tribal areas on the same share capital model, extended from 2021-22 through Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana-2.

Who is eligible for a priority agricultural connection under SCSP?

You can apply if:

• You are a Scheduled Caste farmer in Gujarat and hold a valid caste certificate from the competent authority.
• You own agricultural land in Gujarat, recorded in your name in the 7/12 and 8-A extracts.
• You have a well or borewell on that land, completed and ready for a pump.
• You are seeking a connection for agricultural use, not domestic or commercial use.
• You can pay the registration charges, security deposit, agreement and test report charges.

You cannot apply, or are not eligible, if:

• You do not hold a Scheduled Caste certificate from a competent authority in Gujarat. General-category farmers apply for an ordinary agricultural connection, and Scheduled Tribe farmers apply under the Tribal Area Sub Plan.
• The land is not in your name, and you have no documented right over it. A tenant without a recorded interest cannot be sanctioned the connection.
• The well does not exist yet. The connection follows the source, not the other way round.
• You want the connection for a non-agricultural load, such as a farmhouse or a workshop, which falls under a different tariff category entirely.
• You already hold a sanctioned agricultural connection for the same source and are seeking a duplicate.
• You are in arrears on an existing electricity account, which the discom will clear before a fresh connection is released.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the SCSP well electrification connection

1. Identify the distribution company serving your taluka, DGVCL for south Gujarat, MGVCL for central Gujarat, PGVCL for Saurashtra and Kutch, and UGVCL for north Gujarat.
2. Collect the new agricultural connection application form from the local sub-division office or the company's website, and fill it with your land details, the well location and the pump capacity you intend to install.
3. Attach the Scheduled Caste certificate with the form. This is the step that decides everything: the department's instruction is that an SC farmer must "submit the required documents along with the Scheduled Caste certificate for agricultural electricity connection", and a file submitted without it is processed as an ordinary application.
4. Attach the 7/12 and 8-A extracts, Aadhaar, photograph and the well details, and submit the set at the sub-division office. Take a dated registration receipt with your registration number.
5. Pay the registration charges and the security deposit when demanded, and sign the agreement. Keep every receipt.
6. Have the internal wiring done by a licensed electrical contractor and submit the test report to the sub-division office.
7. Await the survey and estimate, after which the discom erects the poles, runs the HT and LT line and installs the transformer centre at state cost, and then energises the connection and installs the meter.

How do I check the status of my connection?

Track the file with the registration number on your receipt. The sub-division office holds the seniority register, applications in the SCSP queue are served in the order of registration within the sanctioned annual programme — and can tell you where your file stands: registration, survey, estimate, work order, execution or energisation. Each of the four distribution companies also runs a consumer portal and a toll-free line where the status of a new connection request can be asked for by registration number.

• DGVCL: 19123 or 1800-233-3003
• MGVCL: 19124 or 1800-233-2670
• PGVCL: 19122 or 1800-233-155333
• UGVCL: 19121 or 1800-233-155335

Why applications get delayed or rejected

• Caste certificate not attached or expired, so the file never enters the SCSP queue and sits in the general list.
• Land records not in the applicant's name, or an unresolved partition among heirs on the 7/12 extract.
• Right-of-way objection from a neighbouring landowner whose field the HT or LT line must cross, the commonest cause of a sanctioned job stalling at the execution stage.
• Test report not submitted, or internal wiring done by an unlicensed person, which blocks energisation even after the line is built.
• Load applied for does not match the pump actually installed, requiring a revised sanction.
• Annual SCSP programme for the area already committed, in which case the file carries into the next year's programme in seniority order.

Resolve a right-of-way objection early and in writing. A consent letter from the intervening landowner, filed with the sub-division office, usually restarts a stalled job faster than any number of follow-up visits.

What other electricity concessions do SC farmers get in Gujarat?

Two concessions sit alongside the connection subsidy and are frequently confused with it. First, farmers of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities have been granted relief from paying the fixed charge on agricultural electricity connections, a recurring benefit on the bill, distinct from the one-time connection cost. Second, Gujarat pays a very large general agricultural power subsidy to the distribution companies, so the per-unit tariff a farmer sees is already far below the cost of supply. Neither of these requires a separate application; both follow from holding a sanctioned agricultural connection in the correct category, which is why getting the category right on the application form matters.

Help and grievance redressal

• Energy and Petrochemicals Department, Government of Gujarat, the scheme page for the Scheduled Caste Sub Plan is on guj-epd.gujarat.gov.in.
• GUVNL: +91-265-2310582 to 2310586.
• Discom toll-free numbers: DGVCL 19123 / 1800-233-3003, MGVCL 19124 / 1800-233-2670, PGVCL 19122 / 1800-233-155333, UGVCL 19121 / 1800-233-155335.
• For a stalled file, escalate in writing from the sub-division office to the division office and then to the circle office of the distribution company, quoting the registration number and date.

No fee beyond the notified registration charges, security deposit, agreement and test report charges is payable, and no agent is needed to place a file in the SCSP queue, attaching the Scheduled Caste certificate does that.