Telangana Energy Minister C. Laxma Reddy has announced that the government will clear the waiting list of over 80,000 farmers seeking new power connections for their agriculture pump-sets by September-end next. He assured to provide connections at least to half of those farmers by March-end.
Speaking after conducting a review meeting with the officials of Telangana State Southern Power Distribution Company Ltd (TSSPDCL) here on Saturday on the augmentation of power supply to farm sector in the ongoing rabi season, the Minister said a three-member committee was formed to monitor the power supply position for the next four months.
The monitoring cell would keep a tab on overloading, problems related to transformer burnout, repairs and supply of material. Admitting that farmers were suffering badly due to transformer burnout, Dr. Reddy said adequate rolling stock of transformers would be maintained to overcome the problem. Steps were being taken to replace the burnt out transformers within 24 hours after receiving the complaint, he stated.
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Asked about the intensity of transformer burnout, the Minister said 15,890 transformers were damaged due to overloading and severe load fluctuation till date from April 1 this year. The government was seeking the opinion of Superintending Engineers on having a toll-free complaint cell to attend to the transformer burnout problem in rural areas on the lines of 1912 available in the city, he noted.
The TSSPDCL officials were directed to study and submit a report on the sub-station-wise load position to know about the requirement of new sub-stations and transformers to ease the position, Dr. Laxma Reddy said.
He appealed to farmers to not cultivate paddy during the current rabi keeping in mind the shortage of power. He, however, assured that the government was committed to supply six-hour power to agriculture sector. A similar meeting would be held in TSNPDCL at Warangal in the next four to five days.
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