Telangana’s ‘power’ful rise to the top

Hyderabad: From humiliation and doubts over the development of the new State to the refusal of power supply by the Andhra Pradesh government, Telangana faced many problems after its formation in 2014. The rulers in undivided Andhra Pradesh even said Telangana would be plunged into darkness once a separate State is carved out and there […]

Hyderabad: From humiliation and doubts over the development of the new State to the refusal of power supply by the Andhra Pradesh government, Telangana faced many problems after its formation in 2014. The rulers in undivided Andhra Pradesh even said Telangana would be plunged into darkness once a separate State is carved out and there will be no development in the State.

Dispelling all doubts, Telangana is now a role model for all the States in supplying quality power to all the sectors, especially industrial and agriculture sectors, round-the-clock. It is only Telangana that is supplying 24 hours power to the agriculture sector.

While Telangana is now free from power cuts to the domestic and industrial sectors, neighbouring AP is facing problems and has declared a power holiday for the industrial sector leaving many industrialists, especially small and medium scale businessmen, in a hapless situation.

After the State’s formation, Telangana was in a dire need of power supply and on top of it, the then AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu refused to give Telangana’s share of power. Telangana insisted on its share in power generated from the Sileru hydroelectric project, which came after the merger of seven mandals from Khammam district with AP since they face submergence following the construction of the Polavaram project.

Since both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh were at loggerheads over the power supply issue, the Centre appointed the Neeraja Mathur committee to resolve power-related issues. Even as the power dispute continued in 2014, Telangana succeeded in its efforts to ensure quality power to the people while AP declared a power holiday for the industrial sector four days ago.

For the first time after bifurcation, power holiday was declared in AP. In Telangana, it was because of the sustained efforts and focus laid by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on the power sector that resulted in continuous power supply to all sectors since 2014. The contracted installed power capacity which was 7,778 MW in 2014 increased to 17,228 MW now, officials said.

“No one expected that we would be able to overcome all the problems in the power sector. But it was the Chief Minister’s commitment and planning, Telangana is a role model for other States,” an official said.

Telangana had the highest growth rate of 9.2 per cent of per capita electricity consumption in the country. It was increased from 1,896 kwh (2018-19) to 2,071 kwh (2019-20). Telangana is the only State that is supplying 24-hour free power supply to 25.63 lakh agriculture consumers from 2014-15 to 2020-21. Hyderabad has the highest number of domestic connections (17.16 lakh) and industrial connections and others (4.02 lakh) whereas the highest number of agricultural connections was in Nalgonda district (2.03 lakh).

Following a Cabinet meeting held a couple of days ago, Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao announced that an additional 5,600 MW of power will be made available for usage by the end of December 2023. This includes 4,000 MW from Yadadri thermal power plant in the erstwhile Nalgonda district and another 1,600 MW power from NTPC Ramagundam.