Despite the ongoing war of words between the Congress and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) over 24x7 power supply to farming in the State, deficient rainfall has resulted in a huge increase in energy consumption this Kharif season as farmers are forced to depend more on drawing groundwater to sustain standing crops in the early stages of plant growth and transplantation of paddy.
For the first time since the uninterrupted free power supply scheme to farming was introduced in January 2018, this July has recorded the highest intra-day demand on the transmission system as well as daily consumption of energy. According to IMD statistics, the average rainfall deficit remains 25% as on Monday morning with 21 of the 32 rural districts still having an average rainfall deficit ranging from 20% to 60% (Nalgonda).
