Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has said the Telangana government will try to see that there is no power supply problem in summer but appealed to farmers not to panic if there is some demand-supply mismatch next month.
Emphasising that he did not foresee any problem of serious nature, Mr. Rao told a press conference on Friday that efforts to supply power to Telangana from Chhattisgarh were on a fast track as the Power Grid Corporation of India had completed laying the Angul (Odisha)-Palasa (Srikakulam) transmission line while the tendering for Wardha (Maharashtra)-Maheswaram line via Dichpally was completed. Telangana will get 2,000 MW from Chhattisgarh in six months in the wake of this development. In a matter of 14 to 15 months, the State will have an installed capacity of 8,300 MW thermal and 2,600 MW hydel power. He said the agriculture sector would get 12-hour supply in 2017 and, next year, it will be in a position to sell 2,000 to 3,000 MW with an installed capacity of 23,000 MW. The State experiences a shortage of 900 to 1,100 MW in normal course but it goes up to 1,800 to 1,900 MW in summer. The gap will be covered by the year end.
Pension for
beedi workers
Mr. Rao announced a pension of Rs. 1,000 each to 1.70 lakh beedi workers from March 1 on the basis of intensive household survey taken up by the government. The survey disclosed that there were 4.90 lakh beedi workers but it could not be given to all of them because it amounted to duplication.
Of the 4.90 lakh workers, about 1.40 lakh already drew pensions at Rs. 1,000 per head under ‘Aasara’. Another one lakh workers got Central government pensions at the same rate. A total of 2.5 lakh workers were uncovered but it was found that of them, 80,000 were ineligible as they were either minors or wage earners from other sources while rolling beedis. The government will inquire if they applied with Mandal Revenue Officers.
