Power hungry Andhra farmers up in arms

Featured Blog

Rajdeep Sardesai

Maharaj or Dada, Ganguly's legacy lives on

Featured Slideshows

Toomakunta (Andhra Pradesh): Farmers in Andhra Pradesh blocked traffic all along 250 km of a road connecting Ranga Reddy and Adilabad districts on Friday, demanding regular power supply.

The state goverment on its part has said it will buy power from other states in its efforts to tide over the crisis.

Thousands of farmers took part in the blockade to protest against erratic power supply and demanded nine hours of uninterrupted power supply.

The protesters, who were led by the Telangana Rashtra Samiti, cooked food on the road, enacted street plays and raised slogans.

“We're demanding nine hours of uninterrupted power supply for the agricultural land. We will continue the agitation till the government fulfills the demand,” said TRS President K Chandrashekhar Rao.

Rattled by the protests over the last couple of days, the Congress government held a cabinet meeting, after which it promised to take all needed measures.

“We can supply power up to a max of seven hours. And that too if the neighboring states help us. We’re ready to buy electricity from them even if it costs the government,” said Andhra Pradesh Revenue Minister Dharmana Prasad Rao.

The mahadharna has helped gain a lot of political momentum. It also proves their strength in this region. But the question still remains whether the farmers will benefit from the agitation.