Rythu Discom will become noose around neck of farmers: Harish
Former minister T Harish Rao alleged that the proposed Telangana Rythu Power Distribution Corporation Limited would end 24-hour farm power supply, affect lift irrigation and drinking water projects, and pave the way for discom privatisation, while questioning the government's intentions
Siddipet: Former Minister T Harish Rao said that the Telangana Rythu Power Distribution Corporation Limited (RPDCL) would become a death trap for farmers as it would put an end to 24-hour power supply to the farming sector.
Speaking to reporters in Siddipet on Sunday, Harish Rao said the RPDCL would become a curse for lift irrigation projects such as Kaleshwaram, Kalwakurthy, Nettempadu, Bheema, Koil Sagar and many others, which provide irrigation water to thousands of acres across Telangana.
He said there would be disruption in drinking water supply as power supply to these projects would also be affected with the establishment of RPDCL. Quoting the Congress government’s arguments before the Electricity Regulatory Commission (ERC), the former minister said Congress leader Kodanda Reddy informed the ERC that three-hour power supply to farming was enough. He said he was making the statement as he had evidence of the Congress’ argument before the ERC.
Rao asked Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to accept his challenge of the Congress seeking votes only if his government supplied 24-hour power to the farming sector. Stating that the Congress government was not supplying round-the-clock power now, he said he checked the power supply during his visits to multiple substations and found that agriculture connections were hardly getting 13-hour power.
Dismissing Revanth’s claims that 24-hour power would be supplied to the agriculture sector through the establishment of RPDCL as misleading, he said the Congress government had put an end to round-the-clock power supply after coming to power. He said the RPDCL would hardly supply seven to eight hours of power.
Accusing Revanth of following the words of ‘Bade Bhai’ (Prime Minister Narendra Modi), he said the Gujarat government was supplying seven hours of power while Congress-ruled Karnataka was providing eight hours of power supply to the agriculture sector. Showing GO Ms No. 8, which was issued regarding the establishment of RPDCL, he said the government intended to give priority to renewable energy for RPDCL.
Quoting the GO, Rao said the supply of renewable energy would be possible only for eight to nine hours during the day. He questioned why Revanth wanted to supply only renewable energy to RPDCL while thermal power, which is available round the clock, would be supplied to NPDCL and SPDCL.
Rao said the functioning of lift irrigation projects would also be paralysed by the government’s decision since it would not be able to utilise the state’s rightful share of water from both the Krishna and Godavari rivers. “We would be forced to let our share of water flow down to Andhra Pradesh due to lack of power,” he lamented.
The former minister stated that drinking water supply to Hyderabad would also be impacted since lifting of water from the Godavari and Krishna rivers would not be possible during the night. Rao observed that the GO exposed Revanth’s lack of commitment to providing 24-hour power supply. He said lift irrigation pumpsets would develop technical glitches if they were operated in an on-and-off manner.
Quoting the Electricity Act, 2003, the former minister said the discoms must extend electricity connections to all consumers. He said the RPDCL would create many issues since it would be forced to lay multiple lines to meet domestic and agricultural requirements in the same area.
For instance, he said an agriculture connection would get power from RPDCL while a house located close to the field would get power from another discom. Rao opined that the establishment of RPDCL reminded him of Tuglaq’s actions. The former minister demanded that Revanth table the issue in the State Assembly to discuss the government’s decision to establish RPDCL.
Stating that Maharashtra and Karnataka had completed the privatisation of power supply by handing contracts to Adani and Tata respectively, he termed the establishment of RPDCL an attempt to privatise the discoms in Telangana as well. He accused Revanth of trying to secure new loans in the name of RPDCL. Rao demanded that the government withdraw the establishment of RPDCL without any conditions.
Countering Revanth’s statement that the BRS had borrowed huge amounts of loans for discoms, Rao said the discoms borrowed Rs 25,000 crore during 10 years of BRS rule, but the Revanth government borrowed nearly Rs 25,284 crore within two and a half years. While the Congress government borrowed Rs 10,000 crore every year, he said the BRS borrowed just Rs 2,000 crore per year.
