Agriculture Minister P. Srinivas Reddy has condemned the police lathi-charge on farmers protesting against indiscriminate power cuts to agriculture pump-sets in Medak district on Monday.
Talking to reporters here, he said the police might have over-reacted to the farmers protest resulting in the incident. Requesting the farmers to observe restraint on the power supply issue, the Minister said the government is making every effort to address the problem and ensure 7-hour supply to agriculture.
Stating that power generation in some thermal stations was hit due to technical reasons for the last couple of days, he said it was restored now and expressed hope that the situation could be eased to some extent.
“We will make all efforts to ensure power supply so that farmers do not face crop damage due to the reason,” the Minister noted.
On the preparedness of the Agriculture Department, the Minister said sufficient quantities of seed and fertilizer are already in place.
Meanwhile, Karimnagar MP B. Vinod Kumar blamed it on Andhra Pradesh for the increased interruptions in power supply to agriculture sector to the shutting down of several thermal power generating units there in the name of overhauling.
“Farmers are aware of the fact that Telangana is power deficit as of now and it will take some time to improve generation to reduce cuts,” he noted and condemned the police lathi-charge on the farmers protesting power cuts.
