Power crisis in state rocks Telangana assembly

Hyderabad: Serious power crisis in Telangana rocked the state legislative assembly on Monday as the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) and the opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) members were locked in bitter exchange.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao lashed out at the TDP government in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, charging it with depriving Telangana of its due share of electricity.

Rebutting the allegations of TDP member Revanth Reddy that the power crisis was a result of mishandling by the state government, KCR said that instead of coming forward with a solution to the problem, the TDP members were trying to justify Andhra government. “Andhra Pradesh government has become stumbling block in the way of power supply to Telangana,” he said.

The discussion on the issue was marred by interruptions and exchanges of allegations. KCR held the successive Congress and TDP governments of united Andhra Pradesh government for the current situation and said they had failed to take long-term measures to increase the power generation in the state.

On the issue of Srisailam project, KCR said that never in the past the rules on the draw level in the dam were followed leading to the current crisis.

Defending the handling of power crisis by his government, KCR said that ever since the formation of Telangana state on June 2, the state had spent Rs20 billion (Dh1.19 billion) on purchase of power from various sources.

He also alleged that the AP government was not being transparent about the power generation at Sileru Hydel Power station, which had a capacity of 725MW. “Currently 329MW of power was being generated there,” he said.

Rejecting the opposition allegation that the government had failed in dealing with the crisis, KCR countered, “How can we do in five months what others could not achieve in 50 years.”

KCR accepted the demand of Congress legislature party leader K. Jana Reddy to publish a white paper on the power situation in the state.

Tempers ran high when Revanth Reddy put up a forceful defence of his party president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. “It was to the credit of Naidu that during his 9-year rule that power generation capacity of the state was increased by 5600MW. It was his government which supplied uninterrupted power to Hyderabad city,” he said.

Reacting strongly, KCR said it was an unfortunate day when a member betraying his own motherland was supporting another state. Major Irrigation Minister T, Harish Rao charged Reddy with trying to implement the agenda Naidu in Telangana.

BJP floor leader K. Lakshman advised KCR against confrontation with the Central government and offered his party’s cooperation in securing the due share of Telangana in power. “Nothing could be achieved by constant confrontation with the Centre,” he said. Rejecting the charge that Centre was neglecting the interest of Telangana, he said the federal Power Minister, Piyush Goyal, had set up a committee to deal with the issue.

He also alleged that the transmission losses were very high in Hyderabad.

“Of 534MW electricity supplied in Hyderabad, only 234MW was billed,” he said.

Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi held both the Congress and the TDP responsible for the power crisis in the state. “The Centre, too, is responsible for the present crisis,” he said. He wanted to know why only Andhra Pradesh was elected for 24 hour power supply scheme of Centre and Telangana was ignored.

“Telangana is not getting its due share of power and it was for the central government to ensure that the state gets its due,” he said.