Anantapur town witnessed an unprecedented power cut on Saturday.
A majority of localities in and around the city were enveloped in darkness as power supply was not restored till late in the evening.
The load shedding, according to officials, was on account of the shutdown of the Rayalaseema Thermal Power Station (RTPS), which was submerged in the recent heavy rains that lashed the region.
The 1,050 MW supply from the power plant was yet to be restored forcing officials to impose power cut.
Meanwhile, the agitation by the electricity employees of the Seemandhra region entered the third day on Saturday.
They remained unrelenting on their stand of joining duties only on Sunday resulting in severe difficulties to consumers as there were no employees to register their complaints.
According to officials, normalcy was likely to be restored on Sunday morning. Hindupur town in the district also witnessed power cuts in the afternoon, but power was restored by evening. According to officials, power supply was also hit in Kadapa district.
Meanwhile, utilities officials said there was no shortfall in any of the 13 districts on Friday as the requirement of 251 million units across the State was met.
Power generation to the tune of 500 MW was briefly interrupted at Srisailam project but was restored immediately. Meanwhile in Nellore, R. Sai Baba, chairman of the Samaikyandhra Electricity Employees’ JAC, made an appeal to all the striking electricity employees in Seemandhra regions to resume duties from Saturday midnight following the conclusion of their 72-hour strike, which was launched in protest against the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
However, Mr. Sai Baba warned the government of a flash indefinite strike anytime by the Vidyut JAC, if there was any attempt to pass the separate statehood bill either in Parliament or in the State Assembly.
Addressing a protest meeting organised by the Vidyut JAC Nellore unit here on Saturday, Mr. Sai Baba said that their JAC originally wanted to go on indefinite strike along with the employees of other departments, but that decision was postponed following a request from the Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy.
