Power cuts: Govt. should own responsibility

Hyderabad, March 5, 2013: YSR
Congress has said that the Kiran Kumar Reddy government should own up the
responsibility for the consequences arising out of the unprecedented power cuts
which are affecting agriculture, industrial and many other sectors.
  

“The inefficiency and lack of
governance is glaring as the government could not foresee the yawning gap
between the supply and demand of power consumption but it has been proactive in
increasing the tariff to collect over Rs 34,000 crores,” party official
spokesperson Gattu Ramachandra Rao told reporters here on Tuesday.

No effort was put in by the
government to meet the deficit of 100 Million Units (MU) per day in summer as the
priorities of the Kiran Kumar Reddy government lie elsewhere, he said.
  

The acute power cuts have
affected crops in an extent of over 25 lakh acres, more so in upland areas.
Mostly small and medium scale farmers are being pushed into the lurch as they
are sandwiched between high power tariff and erratic power supply.

Industrial sectors is also
bearing the brunt with the government asking the units to take a 12 day holiday
while the power cuts are resulting in a 15 day holiday.  Nearly 1.80 lakh
industrial units have been shut down and over 20 lakh workers are rendered
jobless, he said.

More units will be downing
their shutters due to lack of power and many more workers will be rendered
jobless. Being exams time, students are also badly hit due to power cuts.

“The state was forewarned by
the officials about the impending power shortage but the government did not
take any action nor looked at alternative options and has pushed the state into
darkness as done by the Chandrababu Naidu in his nine-year term,” he said.

YSRCP Honorary President YS
Vijayamma had led the party by holding dharnas against the power cuts and hike
in power charges, while the main TDP had no mention of the serious issue
anywhere which shows how indifferent it is to people’s problems, he said.

YSR has promised 9 hour free
power supply in the 2009 election manifesto but the Congress government 
has went back on the promise and is putting the consumers to several hardships,
he said.

On BJP allegations against
Brother Abil Kumar, he said, the BJP spokesperson is parroting TDP-prepared
script without even verifying the facts. He has been leveling allegations
without going into the details.

While BJP leader Sushma Swaraj
told in the Parliament that YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is being harassed by Congress
and CBI is being used as a tool, the local leader has been talking the language
of TDP.