Electricity shortage hits Telangana farmers as protests spread across districts

Farmers across Telangana are staging protests at substations and squatting on roads, alleging inadequate power supply during the Vanakalam season. With deficient rainfall already affecting crops, the shortage of electricity is preventing farmers from operating borewells and pump sets, raising fears of crop failure.

Hyderabad: This Vanakalam season, farmers are spending more time visiting electricity offices and staging protests at substations than working in their fields due to inadequate and lack of quality power supply.

In addition to deficit rainfall caused by the El Nino impact, inadequate power supply is worrying farmers. After struggling to secure urea, farmers in several districts are now taking to the streets to protest against the power shortage. In many places, they have warned of intensifying their protests if the issue is not resolved at the earliest.

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Amid the hardships faced by farmers, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, speaking at a public meeting in Sangareddy on Saturday, asked the farming community if there was any power shortage. “In the last 32 months, was there any disruption in power supply for a moment? Is it not a fact that farmers are cultivating crops happily?” the Chief Minister asked.

In contrast to these claims, farmers in Polkampally village, adjacent to the Chief Minister’s native village of Kondareddypally, staged a protest at an electrical substation on Sunday over insufficient power supply. The farmers alleged that they were not receiving the 24-hour power supply as claimed by officials. They said power was barely being supplied for 9 to 10 hours a day.

Farmers in Polkampally, Kondareddypally and neighbouring areas extensively cultivate paddy and cotton. A majority of them depend on borewells for irrigation. However, the farmers said their agricultural borewells were becoming non-functional due to lack of electricity. They expressed concern that their crops could wither because of insufficient water caused by the poor power supply.

Similarly, farmers in Marcherla village in Kalwakurthy mandal staged a protest over insufficient power supply on Friday. This was the situation in the Chief Minister’s home district of Palamuru.

The issue of power outages and insufficient supply was not limited to a particular region or district. Farmers from across the State have been making similar complaints. In Jangaon, farmers from Manchupappula Chennur village squatted on the road on Friday in protest against the State government over poor power supply. Likewise, farmers in Suryapet, Miryalguda and other areas of erstwhile Nalgonda have been staging protests at electrical substations and demanding quality power supply.

Due to deficit rainfall in many areas this season, farmers are being forced to depend on borewells to cultivate paddy and other crops. However, insufficient power supply is compounding their problems as they are unable to operate agricultural pump sets and provide water to their fields.

The shortage of water is also delaying land preparation and seedling plantation, besides increasing farm labour expenditure. Expressing concern over lower production due to inadequate power supply and water availability, farmers are demanding that the Congress government immediately resolve the electricity issue and provide 24-hour quality power supply to the farming community.

BRS Deputy Floor Leader T Harish Rao’s surprise inspection of the Solepet Electricity Substation in Aler Assembly constituency on July 24 exposed the Congress government’s claims. The inspection at Solepet Substation was prompted by complaints from farmers over prolonged power cuts, he had said.

According to Harish Rao, the substation operator informed him that farmers had earlier received 14 to 15 hours of electricity, but State government instructions had reduced agricultural power supply to 12 hours a day. Even during these 12 hours, repeated tripping disrupted the supply, he had slammed.