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Journalism of Courage
Eight years after N Chandrababu Naidu scrapped the free power supply scheme to the farm sector and paid the price,the ruling Congress government is under pressure to do the same or at least regulate power supply so that other sectors are not affected. As the state reels under severe power crisis,voices of dissent are beginning to grow louder.
Strong criticism has come from the industry which is facing a three-day power holiday since last month besides erratic power supply on working days. The government has also imposed two to four hour power cuts daily in cities and eight to 10 hour cuts in rural areas. However,Chief Minister K Rosaiah said on Friday that agriculture production in the state is good only because farmers were getting free power and his government was exploring other options to meet the demand of the industry.
The state government has expressed inability to meet the demand for power as it has no funds to buy additional power. Even if funds are arranged,the government would not be able to buy power either from the central grids or private suppliers because it missed its chance to book grids in January.
Training its guns on the governments free power supply scheme,the Andhra Pradesh Council of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has questioned the governments decision to continue to supply free power for seven hours to the farm sector when all other sectors were badly affected due to lack of power.
Narendra Surana,Chairman of AP Council of FICCI said that as supply is free the farm sector is using more than required. People are using additional pump sets in place of one because they are not accountable. Due to this other sectors including the industry is facing severe shortage of power. Working days have come down to four in a week and that too with irregular supply. Production has come down by 45 to 50 per cent. If the government cannot stop free power supply to farm sector at least farmers should be made to pay a minimum cost. That way they will be more careful, he said.
At least 30 representatives from various sectors of the industry including the film industry met Chief Minister K Rosaiah requesting him to purchase power from neighbouring states. The industry is willing to bear the cost but let the government explore options to buy power first, a representative said.
While agreeing to their proposal,Rosaiah emphasised that the government will not stop free supply of power to farmers. It is important to keep maintain good agriculture production. Farmers cannot be burdened even with minimum charges, he said. The Chief Minister also made light of Planning Commission member Abhijit Sens remarks that populist schemes like free power supply were draining the states finances. Sen told the government that free power supply scheme was being misused by the farm sector which is overdrawing groundwater. Besides asking the government to provide meters to the farm sector to monitor and regulate free power supply,Sen suggested that the government should start charging farmers.
Rosaiah said on Friday that agriculture production in the state is good only because farmers were getting free power. Though monsoon was good it was not uniform in the state. There are several areas where farmers are struggling because there is no surface water available for irrigation. They are dependent on bore wells and if we start charging them it would be a big burden on them. There is no question of doing away with free power supply. We are exploring other options to augment power supply to industry and other sectors, Rosaiah said.
