The Telangana Government, which is in the process of providing 24x7 power supply to the farm sector from January next, today said it will take up the financial burden of supply of power to the farm sector from this fiscal itself.

Following a detailed review meeting on 24x7 power supply to the farm sector, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekara Rao assured the power utilities the government would bear the expenditure incurred by them for the 24-hour supply to farm sector. The funds for power supply from January 2018 would also be provided from the current budget with additional allocations made from the next budget.

During the meeting, some of the concerns relating to supply of power round the clock also cropped up and follow up remedial measures would be taken up.

Auto meters

Of significance was the auto-meters farmers have fitted to pumps when the power supply was available to the agriculture for seven hours. Such meters have the potential of running round the clock with 24x7 seven supply, thereby depleting water in the lower depth borewells.

The Chief Minister called for an elaborate campaign to inform the agriculture consumers about the 24x7 power supply and how best they could make use of the supply.

He directed some precautionary measures be taken to address these issues that may crop up due to 24x7 power supply, including faster depletion of the precious resource.

The power utilities in the State have strengthened the infrastructure with an investment of over ₹12,000 crore on improving the transmission and distribution systems in the State.

The Chief Minister also hoped that the farmers would cooperate with the government and follow all the guidelines when 24x7 power was supplied to the farm sector.