Irrigation offices grope in dark as AP Transco snaps power supply

KURNOOL: Casting a shadow on the functioning of Lift irrigation schemes, the Kurnool AP TRANSCO has snapped power supply to irrigation offices, including in parts of Anantapur district. Though lift schemes at Handri Neeva Sujala Sravanthi (HNSS) motors are working at present, they may also be switched-off if arrears are not paid. HNSS owes Rs 2,100 crore to TRANSCO, an accumulated power bill from 2019.

HNSS CE Nagaraju said that budget allocation was not sufficient to clear the bills. “I hope the government will pay once they get the money”, he said.

The official said that out of Rs 2,400 crore arrears in Kurnool district, Rs 2,100 crore is due from HNSS. The others include Kurnool municipality (Rs 50 crore), Panyam Cement and AP Carbides Ltd ((Rs 100 crore), district collector office (Rs 4.5 crore), SC/ST colonies (Rs 12 crore), and to lesser extent from police stations and hospitals.

Srisailam project chief engineer Muralinath Reddy lamented that power in his office has been cut, although the arrears amount is just Rs 50000. He said the power outage at his office does not hinder his operations as most of the staff is working from home.

“Transco is behaving in a bizarre manner. If we want, we can stop water for power generation at Srisailam. We give business to Transco through Lift schemes. They should be more cautious,” said another irrigation engineer.

An irrigation official said TRANSCO was exaggerating the figures. “As per our records, HNSS owes Rs 360 crore, Sri Guru Raghavendra Lift project Rs 90 crore, Srisailam dam maintenance monthly bill of Rs 13.5 lakh, and all our irrigation offices put together come to another Rs two lakh. But TRANSCO is behaving in a vindictive manner”.

When contacted, the Engineer-in-chief Narayana Reddy said the power supply to some other irrigation divisions was also cut. “We are pursuing with Transco to settle the matter,”  he said.