The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Power staff brace for crackdown

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Aug 30, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Power staff brace for crackdown

By our Special Correspondent

TIRUPATI. Aug. 29. With the crackdown on unauthorised agricultural power connections appearing almost inevitable to avoid a system collapse and ensure supply at least to regular connections, personnel of the APTransco and the Discom are said to be bracing themselves up to get down to their task, possibly from September 1.

As part of their mission to remove unauthorised connections, authorities are said to be identifying transformers that broke down more than twice during the last three months due to `over load'.

Winning over `regulars'

They are even trying to seek the cooperation of regular connection holders by trying to explain to them the load capacity of their transformers, the over load factor and the consequent damage it caused, the amounts spent on repairs by the Government in an obvious attempt to win them over before swooping down on unauthorised ones.

Sources further said that the authorities were even contemplating putting on the `black list' such villages that refused to fall in line with their stance.

Illegal connections

Out of 1.89 lakh agricultural connections in the district, as many as 9,965 are unauthorised ones and the number is likely to go up when the survey that is on is completed before September 1.

If the Government takes the decision to snap supply to the unauthorised connections, it will spell a doom for the crops grown on an extent of 25 lakh hectares under them. It is in view of this that even regular connection holders are unlikely to let the authorities cut off connection to fields of their fellow farmers.

Cloud-seeding

Meanwhile, cloud-seeding operations taken up in the district have come under cloud with the exercise not bringing even a drop of rain much to the anguish of authorities and farmers.

Despite initial showers, the monsoon also had ditched the district. Against the normal rainfall of 117 mm during August, a crucial month for the kharif season, it recorded a mere 17 mm so far threatening the very fate of groundnut crop raised on an extent of 1.8 lakh ha in the district.

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Andhra Pradesh