Agraharam R&R colony residents unable to pay power bills

KAKINADA: Residents of Polavaram Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R) colonies at Agraharam in the agency area have said they are unable to pay their high power bills.

Veerabhadra Reddy, T. Abbayireddy and other residents have submitted a memorandum to ITDA project officer C.V. Praveen Aditya on Monday saying power bills have become a burden for them, as they are high. They wanted the same to be reduced.

The memorandum further pointed out that many residents of R&R colonies have not received their rehabilitation packages yet. That apart, colonies have no proper drinking water supply, roads and toilets.

Participating in the Spandana programme, Pinjarakonda sarpanch Kosuri Ramireddy and his Kothapalem counterpart Pamarthi Gouramma sought a road of 4 km from Pinjarakonda to Kothapalem. They wanted drinking water supplied through Jala Jeevan Mission scheme to Pinjarakonda of Bhimudupakalu panchayat.

Residents of Pathakota, G. Vattigadda, Thummichelu, Chilaka Veedhi Lanka, Marrivalasa, Gagalagondi, Thekulaveedhi, Karunoothulu, Peddapululsurimetta and Chinna Pulusurimetta of Y. Ramavaram mandal and Pedakorumilli village of Rampachodavaram mandal also requested officials to provide drinking water to their villages. Praveen Adhithya said he has received 130 petitions from people and these will be sorted out as early as possible.

At Kakinada, joint collector G. Lakshmi received 425 representations from petitioners on Monday in the Spandana programme.

Energy crisis will be overcome: Power minister

Meanwhile, power minister Balineni Srinivasa Reddy has asserted that the state government is making all efforts to overcome the energy crisis in the state. He maintained that shortage of coal supply has resulted in lesser thermal generation at the Krishnapatnam plant.

This has been compounded by maintenance works going on at Rayalaseema thermal power plant’s second and sixth units of the plant. Power generation has been stopped at the fourth unit.

The minister said they are relying on Coal India and Singareni Collieries, besides importing coal from abroad. Currently, supplies are available only to meet 70–75 percent of the requirement.

He pointed out that though thermal plants of AP Genco require 70,000 tonnes of coal per day, only 24,000 tonnes is available. After AP asked for help from the centre, the availability has now gone up to 40,000 tonnes per day.

Srinivasa Reddy asserted that AP government is making all efforts to deal with power shortage in the state.