Congress is indifferent to farmers woes

HYDERABAD: The government is squarely responsible for the plight of farmers in the state, especially in the Telangana region, due to power shortage, the Telugu Desam Party has said.Speaking to reporters here on Monday, TDP senior leader T Devender Goud alleged that the Congress government was vindictive towards farmers, particularly of Telangana region.According to an estimate, standing paddy crop in 50 lakh acres is likely to wither away in the state due to lack of proper irrigation facility.The government which is indifferent to the problems of farmers, is not supplying uninterrupted power to the agricultural sector, citing power shortage due to Sakala Janula Samme, he said.Goud pointed out that the demand for power in summer was 280 million units per day. But now the demand was just 260 million units. Even if there was a decrease in demand for power, the government had failed to meet it.As all the reservoirs were full, the state could generate 60 MU of hydel power per day. But the current power generation by hydel units was just 30 MU per day, Goud said. He demanded that the government publish a white paper on power position in the state so that people would know whether the present power shortage was real or artificial. If there was a real power shortage, the government should purchase it from other states to meet the demand.“We have got information that the state has decided not to purchase 80 MU of power from Wednesday,” Goud said.The TDP has decided to stage dharnas at all the substations in the state, if the power supply position does not improve in the coming days. Alleging nexus between the Congress and TRS, Goud demanded that the two parties disclose the details of their secret talks in Delhi.