The Hindu Business Line : AP Govt report on free power to farm sector soon

THE Andhra Pradesh Government, which convened an all-party meeting on Tuesday to discuss the existing free power supply to the agricultural sector, will be submitting its views to the State Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) shortly.

The Government had to submit its report to the APERC by this Thursday. However, if necessary, a few more days' time would be sought as the Government is yet to formulate its views, the State Finance Minister, Mr K. Rosaiah, told newspersons here on Tuesday.

The Minister clarified that the Government wanted to review its policy of free power to farmers not due to monetary constraints but because it has led to many unexpected developments such as the increase in unauthorised power connections leading to overloading of the distribution system. The unexpected load on the system had resulted in increased failure of distribution transformers.

Therefore, he said, the Government has invited the members of all political parties and representatives of farmers organisations to express their views on measures to be taken to make power supply to agricultural consumers more effective and sustainable in the long run.

However, the representatives of the Opposition parties, particularly the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Bharatiya Janata Party and the Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen, were sceptical about the Government's gesture in this regard. They expressed serious doubts whether the Congress Government, which came to power on the plank of free power to farmers, would continue the scheme. The TDP maintained that the party would have won the last elections if it had promised free power to the farm sector but did not do so for reasons of credibility.

On the other hand, the representatives of the Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, which had an electoral alliance with the Congress in the last elections, sought implementation of the scheme by categorising the farmers.

The representatives of farmers' organisations, All India Kisan-Mazdoor Sabha, Andhra Pradesh Ryotu Sangham and Federation of Farmers' Associations (FFA), also wanted continuation of free power supply subject to certain modifications.

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