Govt may dispense with free power

Machilipatnam, April 3, 2013: Coming down heavily on
the Government for not supplying free power to farmers even for three hours a
day, Smt. Y. S. Sharmila said she will not be surprised if the Government
dispenses with the free power scheme completely.

Addressing a huge
public meeting at Machlipatnam during the course of her Padayatara on Tuesday,
she said the Government has turned a blind eye even as thousands of industries
are being closed and lakhs of workers losing jobs due to power woes.

“What happened to your
promise of providing employment to 35 lakh persons by bringing in an investment
of Rs.6 lakh crores?” she questioned CM Kiran Kumar Reddy.

While the farmers are
hardly getting a 3-hour free power supply a day, the domestic consumers are
also being subjected to harassment with a 4-hour supply of power, she said,
expressing doubts over the continuation of even the nominally existing free
power supply scheme.”It will be no surprise if Kiran Kumar Reddy totally
dispenses with it in a few days,” she said.

She said Kiran Kumar
Reddy is not serious over the issue. “He is just laughing it away by saying
there won’t be any use with the power supply when there is no ground water,”
she said, adding the CM’s comments reflect the Government’s lackadaisical approach
towards the problem.

Charging
the Government with imposing an additional financial burden of Rs. 6500 Cr on
the people through the recent hike in power tariff, she said the Congress rule
is akin to that of Naidu.

Smt.
Sharmila said while the Government has given up implementing the promises made
by YSR, TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu has been protecting such a Government
despite the mounting problems of the people.