BRS blames power cuts as paddy withers in Palamuru’s Wanaparthy

Former Telangana agriculture minister and BRS leader Singireddy Niranjan Reddy on 19 October visited Peddagudem Thanda in Wanaparthy district, where tribal farmers showed him paddy fields that had dried out before harvest. He blamed the Congress government’s handling of electricity supply for the losses.

Niranjan Reddy said the damage was not the result of a natural drought but of government failure. He demanded that the state carry out a crop-loss assessment across Telangana and pay compensation to affected farmers, and said the BRS would stand with them until they were paid.

Farmers at the thanda told him their crop had withered because power for their pump sets was unreliable.

The opposition’s case

Niranjan Reddy said the Srisailam reservoir held about 70 TMC of water, yet pumps on the Palamuru-Rangareddy and Kalwakurthy lift irrigation schemes were not being run. He said Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy lacked a basic understanding of how power supply works and said around 2.5 crore people in the state depend on farming.

His visit follows weeks of protests by farmers at electricity substations in the erstwhile Mahabubnagar district, the region known as Palamuru. BRS leaders and protesting farmers have said farms in several places are getting only six to eight hours of power a day.

The government’s position

The state government has acknowledged the strain. At a review meeting on 14 October, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy ordered officials to give agriculture uninterrupted, round-the-clock power until the harvest is complete, saying the next 20 days were critical for standing crops. He told them to identify areas with high farm demand and step up supply there.

At the same meeting, he warned that the Special Chief Secretary of the Energy department, the chairman and managing director of TG-GENCO and other officers concerned could face suspension if supply to farmers did not improve. He also questioned why the Yadadri thermal power station was not running at full capacity despite coal linkages from Naini and Mahanadi.

Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, who also holds the Energy portfolio, said on 7 October that the state’s peak power demand had reached an all-time high of 19,892 MW. He blamed the previous BRS government for the delay in the Yadadri plant and for failing to put adequate coal supply arrangements in place for it.

Electricity demand on the state grid crossed 20,000 MW in October. On 20 October, the 800 MW Unit 5 of the 4,000 MW Yadadri plant was synchronised with the grid. BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao welcomed the milestone and credited the project to the previous BRS government.

No response from the Southern Power Distribution Company of Telangana (TGSPDCL) or the Energy department to Niranjan Reddy’s 19 October allegations was available at the time of publishing.

What comes next

The 20-day window the Chief Minister set for protecting standing crops runs into the first week of November. Whether the government orders a crop-loss survey, as the BRS demands, and whether supply to farms improves before then, will decide how much of the crop can still be saved.