Paddy farmers miffed with power cuts \'detain\' Tansco staff in Adilabad

ADILABAD: Farmers of Mutyampet village detained three Transco staff and locked them in the gram panchayat building when the staff visited the village. The villagers took the step as a protest against the power cuts that affected their paddy crop in Dandepalli mandal in the Mancherial district on Tuesday morning.

The farmers alleged that there were power cuts without information and this was affecting their agriculture operations, especially when paddy planting is going on now in their agriculture fields.

However, the power consumption has increased in recent days with the paddy cultivation after the floods. Meanwhile in some places, the planted paddy was washed away in the recent floods.

The farmers of the Jannaram and Luxettipet areas under Kadam Ayacut have demanded the irrigation officials to clarify whether water would be supplied to the ayacut this Karif or not after repairing the damaged gates of Kadem project. Farmers of these areas now depend on the agriculture pump sets for paddy cultivation.

Flood water is being discharged continuously downstream from Kadem project as officials have failed to down the gates due to damages and technical problems. The boating facility to entertain tourists and visitors has been stopped in the Kadem waters since there was not sufficient water in the project.