TeluguabroadPower for all in AP from Oct. 2
The Andhra Pradesh government has said that the ‘Power for All’ scheme of the Central government will be implemented in the State from October 2. Andhra Pradesh, Delhi and Rajasthan were selected for the centrally-sponsored scheme.
Answering a question on power sector in the Assembly, Information and Public Relations Minister Palle Raghunatha Reddy said there was no move to collect even a rupee towards power dues of farmers in the State. The AP Cabinet, approved a programme to generate 4,400 MW of thermal power and another 400 MW of hydro power in the next five years.
Mr. Reddy added that the government had successfully brought down the power demand in the State from 22 million units to zero level in the 83 days of its rule. The government had completed online monitoring of 6,000 out of 9,264 targeted power feeders to study whether they got single or three phase supply and other issues. As part of energy saving measures, the government would install 1.20W LED bulbs in domestic sector and replace five lakh street lights.
AP will have to provide 24*7 power to all categories on consumers within at time frame of two years. To begin with, the domestic sector households which are already connected will be taken up for the scheme. The state also has 4.8 lakh unconnected households that will be connected and taken up for the scheme by 2017.
By September 10 the final MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) is expected to be signed between the state government and the centre. The state is trying to tie up 2400 mw worth of power for a period of four years. Also addition of generation capacity in state, allocations from Central Generating Stations, increasing the transmission network are among the blueprint which is waiting the approval of the CM.
“Under the scheme, once a city or town is announced to be connected, there can be no power cuts given due to power shortage, generation loss or any such reason. Only temporary cuts due to other technical reasons might happen, but the supply will be round the clock in other reasons, as per the mandate. There can be no scheduled or un-scheduled cuts whatsoever,” said an official.
