TeluguabroadTelangana buys power at higher rates
Faced with a severe shortage of electricity, the government dug deep into its pockets on Sunday to purchase 14 million units (MU) of power from producers in the state. The deal was made at Rs 8.50 per unit against the normal long-term tariff agreement price of around Rs 3.50 per unit. Despite this, there was a shortfall of 18.5 MU on Sunday.
The state power utilities could supply only 139.2 MU on the day against the total demand of 157.74 MU. The shortfall angered farmers in several districts, with protests breaking out in some areas and complaints pouring in regarding their inability to water the standing crops so close to the harvest season due to lack of power.
According to CMO officials, in order to address this problem, chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has instructed the Telangana state discom officials to ensure that the power purchased should only be used to help farmers irrigate their crops.
Though the government had recently inked a pact with Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited to set up two power plants with a total generation capacity of 6,000 mega watts, these will be available only after three years. In fact, KCR, while speaking to his party leaders on Sunday, blamed the power woes on previous united AP governments citing their failure in establishing power projects to cater to the Telangana region. He also accused AP chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu for not allowing equitable distribution of electricity from the power plants located in his state.
KCR also clearly stated that the power woes in Telangana will continue for the next two years or so until some new generating stations come up, but assured farmers that his government would do everything it can to ensure adequate power supply to save standing crops.
