Less than two years away from the coming 2019 elections, Telangana Rashtra Samiti is about to roll out the Prestigious 24X7 Power to Agriculture Scheme as an arrow to woo the votes of the farmers. The KCR government is risking the rollout of the current scheme even though it has to go for a very costly purchase to meet this particular demand.
While Medak, Nalgonda, and Karimnagar districts will get 24×7 power on a pilot basis, the same would be extended to other districts in a particular phased manner. But then, political experts feel that KCR is taking an aggressive route to woo the voters. There are almost 20 lakh power connections to the agriculture sector in the state, and in that most of them have auto starters fixed. 24X7 Power to Agriculture will mean that the ground water levels will be put under a threat.
Depletion may take place. The farming in Telangana is mainly dependent on Pump Sets. This very free usage of Pump Sets will lead to more power and water resource being wasted increases many folds. This will bring more side effects than good to the agriculture in coming years. The KCR ruling government may better opt for scientific study before rolling out such risky schemes.
