The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Upland farmers elated

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 16, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Upland farmers elated

By G. Nagaraja

ELURU, MAY 15. "It's a festival for everybody in our village as the dream of upland people came true,'' Bhatroju Kondaiah of Chinnayagudem in Devarapalli mandal of West Godavari district recalls the Rajasekhar Reddy Government's maiden decision to implement the election-eve promise of free power supply.

"We were all glued to TVs and watched Dr Reddy sign his first file relating to free power soon after his swearing in. Every household celebrated the event in jubilation, cutting across party lines,'' he said.

The village is a prototype of the country's multi-party system with the presence of almost all political parties. Of course, all the parties get united on one issue, non-payment of electricity dues. For the target-driven TRANSCO officials, recovery of dues in the village is a scare. "Once they

(officials) came to our village, threatening to disconnect power supply for non-payment of dues. We detained them inside the panchayat office for a full day. Since, then no official steps into the village,'' says a gleeful Gada Ananda Rao, a prominent TDP leader who deserted his party and strove for election of the Congress candidate in Gopalapuram (SC reserved) Assembly segment in protest against the stand of the former Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, on the issue of power. "He (Dr Rajasekhara Reddy) is a god for upland farmers. He must rule the State for at least some period to mitigate the sufferings of farmers,'' observes Yavasani Sesha Reddy of Gunnampalli in Dwaraka Tirumala mandal, whose 27-year-old son, Ranga Reddy, reportedly died of heart attack in January last year following disconnection of power supply to their agricultural pumpset by TRANSCO personnel for failure to pay the bills on time. Unlike his counterparts in Chinnayagudem, Sesha Reddy failed to counter the alleged coercive posture of the TRANSCO for want of unity in the farmers of his village.

Paladugu Venkateswara Rao of Chinnayagudem has no iota of doubt on issue of free power. "It is quite possible, if there is a will,'' he says. However, Mr Ananda Rao differs with his fellow villager on the issue:

"We, the farmers, never asked for free power. We don't mind paying up to Rs 200 per horsepower instead of Rs 600 at present. But what we want from the Government is to ensure an uninterrupted power supply for 12 hours daily and waiver of dues.''

The Chief Minister's decision on free power has a lot of relevance in West Godavari district where upland farmers spearheaded an agitation against increase of power tariff for agriculture by the Naidu Government in 1996 which turned violent following firing by the police at Kaldhari, killing a couple of farmers.

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