Vijayawada: Unofficial power cuts plague villagers

Vijayawada: Though the State Government is repeatedly saying that there are no official or unofficial power cuts in the rural areas of the State, some districts have reported unofficial power cuts in the name of load relief and maintenance works.

According to ground reports from some parts of Krishna, Guntur, Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Chittoor and Prakasam districts, unofficial power cuts for the past few days have been there.

Interestingly, the power cut is not regular at specific places and specific mandals. It changes from one area to another and mostly the unofficial power cut is between one to three hours in some rural areas of the state. Mostly, the power supply was interrupted during morning and evening hours.

In Krishna district, eastern parts are facing unofficial power cuts during the morning and evening hours. Power consumers and farmers are alleging that they have been facing problems due to interruption in power supply. Similar reports are there from Mudinepalli, Kalidindi and other mandals.

In Srikakulam and Vizianagaram districts, some rural areas are facing unofficial power cuts causing hardships to the rural people for the past few days. Similar situation prevails in Prakasam and Guntur districts also. In Guntur district, power supply is disturbed in some parts of the Palnadu region and others for the past few days.

Though the authorities claim that these are power cuts planned, villagers say that they have been facing power outages for two hours in rural areas. In some towns too, two-hour power cuts are being witnessed in the name of load relief.

The officials say that the load relief is inevitable as the government is able to supply an average of 9.400 million units per day against the demand of 10.500 million units. Instead of the continuous supply for nine hours to agriculture, the power is being supplied for 6 to 7 hours in Prakasam district, and the farmers are complaining that the last plants in the field are withering as they are not receiving enough water.

Most of the power cuts are in the areas where agriculture motors are being used, like in Parchur, Medarametla, Addanki, Chirala, and Giddalur, Chandrasekhara Puram, Kanigiri, Markapuram, Peddaravedu and other mandals.