Farmer writes to Revanth on power cuts, voltage fluctuations, says he might quit farming

A 76-year-old farmer from Sangareddy wrote to Chief Minister Revanth Reddy complaining about frequent power cuts, voltage fluctuations and inaction by Transco officials, warning that he may quit farming if the issues are not resolved

Sangareddy: At a time when Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy is claiming to benefit the farming community, an aged farmer from Sangareddy dashed off an email to the Chief Minister’s Office bitterly complaining about unscheduled power cuts, voltage fluctuations and inaction of Transco officials.

In his detailed email listing out his problems, the 76-year-old farmer Kolly Kishore Babu feared that he might be forced to quit farming if the problems he listed out persisted. More worrisome was the fact that he had to shell out nearly Rs 40,000 to get his burnt-out electric motor repaired six times in the last 18 months. The motor got burnt repeatedly because of the low-voltage power being supplied, he told Revanth Reddy in his mail.

The 76-year-old passionate farmer from Sangareddy maintained that he was an ardent supporter of the Chief Minister. He bitterly complained that his village Edulapally in Jharasangam mandal has been experiencing frequent power cuts. Due to voltage fluctuations, the borewell pumpsets were getting burnt multiple times. In addition to this, he said, the overhead lines in his agricultural field were hanging very low at just 6 feet height. Despite repeated requests to local AE (Transco) Sarala, no action was being taken on his complaint.

Speaking to Telangana Today, Kishore Babu, who retired from BHEL some 15 years ago, had pursued agriculture as a passion. After purchasing eight acres of land at Edulapally, the 76-year-old farmer cultivated apple, dates, dragon fruits and a variety of mangoes and other crops. However, Kishore Babu said that he was struggling to save his plants as he could not water them because of frequent power failures. Even though he spoke to the power supply official concerned multiple times, apart from sending dozens of mails, he is yet to see any action on the complaints.

Vexed with the local Transco officials, Kishore Babu shot off a letter to Revanth recently, seeking his intervention in providing quality power. He also requested Revanth to direct Transco officials to remove the overhead electric lines, which were hanging low, for the safety of farmers. Stating that it is not just his story alone, Kishore Babu said that every farmer in the area was struggling in the same way.