Accusing the Congress of conspiring to scrap the 24×7 free power supply scheme to agriculture, working president of Bharat Rahstra Samithi (BRS) and Minister for IT and Industries K.T. Rama Rao said the comments made by Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president A. Revanth Reddy during his US visit were part of its plans.
Responding to the reported comments of Mr. Revanth Reddy, the BRS working president said in a statement on Tuesday that the Congress’ view that only 3-hour supply was enough for farming was reflecting its line of thinking. Terming the 24×7 free power to agriculture as lifeline to the farming community in Telangana, Mr. Rao said the talk of the Congress leader was like stopping the breath of farmers.
He said Telangana society would not forget the problems faced by the farming community during the previous Congress regime but the BRS Government did not succumb to the Centre’s pressure for installation of meters to agricultural pump-sets. The State Government had sacrificed ₹30,000 crore (borrowings) to protect the 24×7 free power to farming, he said and appealed to the farming community to give a piece of its mind to the Congress’ conspiracy.
(According to information reaching here, Mr. Revanth Reddy, while interacting with Telangana NRIs in the US, stated that most of the farmers had up to three acres of landholding and at the rate of an hour of supply to wet/water one acre land, three-hour supply would be sufficient. Nevertheless, eight-hour supply would meet the needs of all farmers. Further, he alleged, the BRS had introduced 24×7 free power to farming for commissions from power producers and the party was deceiving people with free power.)
Mr. Rama Rao recollected how farmers died of snake and scorpion bite or due to electrocution when they went to the farm fields late in the night to water the standing crops as they were getting one spell of power supply only during late nights. He also reminded how farmers waited in serpentine queues or kept their belongings in the queue for getting seed and fertilizer before every farm season.
However, after formation of Telangana, huge investment was made on the transmission and distribution systems before introducing 24×7 free power. Along with new irrigation projects, the number of farm power connections had also increased to 27 lakh from 18 lakh at the time of State formation helping Telangana become the food bowl of the country, he explained.
Stating that the talk of scrapping 24×7 free power to farmer was continuation of Congress plans as part of which it announced to scrap Dharani, online land record management system, Mr. Rama Rao asked the party ranks to stage protest across Telangana for two days, burn effigies of the Congress and explain to people the Congress’ designs.
