Unauthorised power connections unnerve govt

State govt calls for all-party meet on Aug 25

Caught on a wrong foot for targeting unauthorised connections as the reason for the growing energy consumption by the farm sector in the state, the Congress government on Monday "� as a face-saving exercise "� called for an all-party meeting on August 25 to discuss the issue.

Besides glossing over the problems associated with the free power to farmers, chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy yesterday made a politically naive move by announcing the drive against unauthorised agricultural connections.

Quick to grab the opportunity, the opposition Telugu Desam Party, which opposed free power scheme when it was in power, bitterly criticised the move as anti-farmer.

If the government decides to go ahead with its decision to weed out unauthorised power connections, it may raise a hue and cry as it poses a threat to the standing crops sown with these connections. Adding to the confusion among the policy-makers, the APTransco's panic reaction to sudden jump in the power demand is said to have prompted the government to make the hasty announcement.

The power consumption in the state touched 153 million units (mu) a couple of days ago, which is unprecedented when compared to last year's average consumption of about 127 mu during the same period. The APTransco officials are said to have informed the chief minister at a review meeting that the system would collapse if agricultural consumption was allowed to grow unchecked.

In an irony of sorts, the government's bid to remove unauthorised connections would only hurt the small farmers lagging behind the big farmers in securing power connections.

The actual contribution to the growing energy demand is reportedly from the big farmers who are raising the capacity of their pump sets.

Limiting the free power scheme to small land holdings is one of the effective ways not only to ease the burden on the state power utility but also on the exchequer, say experts.

They point out that unauthorised connections were mainly those of the small farmers who could not exert influence with the bureaucracy in getting connections under the previous TDP regime. Hence they resorted to the illegal use of power.

The new government in the last Assembly sessions announced that it would regularise or sanction new power connections up to 50,000 during this year.

But, knowing fully well that the problem of unauthorised connections would aggravate on account of free power scheme, the APTransco failed to check the menace before it caused a major embarrassment to the government. The chief minister himself admitted that around one lakh to 1.5 lakh new illegal connections were taken during the past three months.

According to an estimate, the big farmers, who possess more than one pump set and also those who own huge horticulture plantations, comprise a mere 5-6 per cent of the total farming community.

However, they account for more than 30 per cent of the total agriculture energy consumption. Taking advantage of the free power scheme, these big farmers have been enhancing the capacity of their pump sets, which has already reflected in peak loads.

According to some reports, even the farmers under canal systems have started using pump sets as electricity is made available free of cost to the farmers.

APTransco has announced that there are around 3.5 lakh unauthorised agricultural connections, of which at least 2.5 lakh illegal connections were old ones. It is clear that, the alarming increase in agricultural consumption is not on account of the new unauthorised connections.

According to APTransco officials, there are around 22.5 lakh authorised agricultural services operating in the state. Apart from capacity addition by big farmers, the increase in consumption during the current season is mainly on account of improved supply to the agriculture sector. Groundwater availability has also contributed to the increased consumption, according to them.

Though the previous government used to maintain that it ensured a 9-hour supply to the farm sector as promised, the ground reality was always different. Now that the priorities of the government have changed, it has become difficult for APTransco to continue the same practice.

Instead of admitting this fact, the APTransco officials have blamed the increased demand squarely on the unauthorised connections, an official observed. The farmers associations always maintain that the APTransco overestimates the agriculture consumption only to transfer certain losses to agriculture account.

Reacting to a question, Rajasekhara Reddy yesterday said that he would not allow chaos and lawlessness in the name of free power scheme.

He announced yesterday that no new borewell should be dug in farm lands without the prior permission of the government. TDP leaders accused that the Congress government was going back on its election promise.