Caught in the TS-A.P. governments’ crossfire, the inhabitants of several ceded villages, which fell under East and West Godavari districts after the AP State Reorganisation Act, 2014 came into force, have been denied potable water for several days as the Rural Water Supply (RWS) schemes became defunct for want of power.
The Telangana government reportedly withdrew power supply for the drinking water schemes as a measure to recover the pending power bills from the Andhra Pradesh government. The demand notices raised by the Northern Power Distribution Company Limited (NDPCL) in Telangana estimated the dues to be paid by the gram panchayats of Kukkunuru and Velerupadu mandals, presently in West Godavari district, at Rs. 2.09 crore.
The RWS schemes in the two ceded mandals are presently receiving power from the 32KV feeder station at Burgampahad in Telangana. The drinking water needs in the merged villages are met by way of pumping the Godavari water and groundwater through the RWS schemes.
Power supply was restored for the water schemes at six merged villages after a hue and cry by the locals during the gram sabhas. However, inquiries with the official agencies revealed that at least five more villages in Kukkunuru mandal were still reeling under water crisis as power supply was yet to be restored for the water schemes in these villages.
Sitarami Reddy, mandal secretary of the CPI, said the people in these villages were forced to consume untreated water drawn from hand bores. The water scheme at Medipalli under Yelerupadu mandal went out of order quite a long ago.
Collector Bhaskar Katamneni told The Hindu that the district administration was sorting out the problem by making a part-payment of the dues immediately. He said the State government has sanctioned a project to delink the transmission lines in the ceded villages from NDPCL and integrate them with the A.P. power grid to avoid recurrence of such complications in the future.
Ch. Satyanarayana Reddy, Superintending Engineer, Eastern Power Distribution Company Limited (EPDCL), said efforts were under way to draw the distribution lines for a distance of 35km from the 33KV substation located at Rachannagudem under Jangareddygudem to Kukkunuru as part of the grid integration project with a cost of Rs. 2.06 crore.
