Raichur rural MLA Tipparaju Hawaldar from Bharatiya Janata Party and Raichur City MLA Shivaraj Patil from Janata Dal (Secular) staged a day-long hunger strike at Tipu Sultan Garden near the office of Deputy Commissioner here on Sunday demanding round-the-clock power supply to Raichur taluk. After paying floral tribute to the statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the district stadium, both the leaders, along with hundreds of their supporters, marched to the agitation site.
There has been a long-pending demand for providing uninterrupted power supply to Raichur taluk, considering the fact that Raichur taluk has provided valuable land to two major power stations — Raichur Thermal Power Station (RTPS) and Yermarus Thermal Power Stations (YTPS) — on which the State is heavily dependent for its energy needs.
Mr. Hawaldar had led an agitation of laying siege to the RTPS on July 8 and had withdrawn it after authorities assured him of positive action.
On September 17, he announced an “indefinite” hunger strike on October 2 on the same demand, but reduced it to a day-long one at the 11th hour.
“I am left with no option but to go on a serious agitation as all my efforts and other forms of agitations — such as writing letters to the Chief Minister and agitation outside the RTPS have gone in vain. The officers assurances during the RTPS siege and the district in-charge Minister's promise on Independence Day have turned out to be a hoax. We have given our land for power stations that contribute over 40 per cent of the total energy generated by the State-owned power stations and we have all the right to demand 24 x 7 power supply to the taluk,” Mr. Hawaldar said during the agitation.
Dr. Shivaraj Patil warned the government that they would launch intensified agitations if it continued to ignore their demand.
“Farmers in the rain-fed area and along the Tungabhadra and the Krishna rivers in the taluk are dependent on pump-sets for irrigation. Due to improper and insufficient power supply, they are incurring heavy losses in their agricultural activities. The government should consider Raichur taluk’s contribution to State’s power sector and take a decision to provide round-the-clock power supply,” he said.
Leaders and cadres of both the parties were present throughout the agitation.
