Telangana: Congress govt. launches power schemes to revive sector

Hyderabad: The power sector, reeling under a Rs 83,000-crore debt burden from the previous BRS government, is hoping for a revival with the schemes launched by the Congress government to benefit farmers, people living below the poverty line and other sections.

The Revanth Reddy government has continued the free power to agriculture scheme of the Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy government.

The 1.85 crore general electricity consumers, who had to pay an additional Rs 20,000 crore by the previous BRS government under various guises, have not been burdened further.

As part of six guarantees, the government has launched the Gruha Jyoti scheme of free power to consumers who use less than 200 units of power. Around 50 lakh consumers have received zero bills from March this year.

The government has taken it upon itself to provide free power to 39,067 government schools, colleges and educational institutions and is picking up the bill of Rs 101.57 crore.

Power demand grew to record levels, moving up from the eighth spot to fifth. The government also met the peak demand of 15,623 MW in a day. Two units of the Yadadri Power Project, where work was delayed under the BRS government, were connected to the grid. As part of Praja Vijoytsav celebrations, the government is planning to launch commercial production of 800 MW of power.

The government has targeted generating 4,000 MW of solar power with the help of Mahila Shakti Sanghalu (women SHGs). Each group will be provided assistance to generate 1 MW of power in four acres of land. The government also launched a pilot project by selecting five villages to generate solar power to meet the local village demand.

The Revanth Reddy-led Congress government has released a White Paper on the debt burden and losses in the power sector and formed a judicial commission to enquire about irregularities in setting up Yadadri and Bhadradri thermal power plants and power purchase agreements carried out in the past.

The State is setting up 244 new sub-stations and launching emergency response team vehicles to rectify the technical trouble on a war footing basis to provide uninterrupted power supply.