For the first time after construction of the dam, the residents of Nagarjunasagar will pay electricity bills from next month as the electricity department began installing meters to all the houses in the town. With this decision the Telangana Government will be relieved from the burden of at least Rs. 22 crore per annum. The State government had paid Rs 22 crore towards domestic usage, Rs 9 crore on water supply to these households and street lights and, Rs. 3 crore for power used for irrigation purposes of dam last year. Except for some official quarters, majority of the houses were constructed illegally by encroaching the lands of Irrigation Department. The residents have been using electricity with unauthorised connections for nearly five decades. Now, there are over 4,200 houses to which the electricity department started installing meters since a week. During a review meeting conducted in Nalgonda recently, Irrigation Minister, T. Harish Rao and Energy Minister, G. Jagadishwar Reddy instructed the Irrigation and Transco Departments to work in co-ordination and complete the process soon. Meanwhile, as many as 465 unauthorised people have been residing in Nagarjunasagar Project quarters in Miryalaguda towards which the State government used to pay Rs.1 crore every year.
Following directions from Mr. Harish Rao, the electricity department officials started fixing the meters to all these quarters. . The officials have observed that the State government will be relieved from an estimated Rs. 40 crore burden annually with this decision.
Nagarjunasagar residents will start paying power charges from next month as the electricity department installed meters at all the houses