HYDERABAD: Deputy Chief Minister and Energy Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka on Friday said that he feels sad to see farmers from Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s Assembly segment staging “half-naked dharnas” over insufficient power supply to their agriculture fields.
Replying to a question in the Legislative Council, Vikramarka said: “We saw that the farmers of some villagers in CM’s segment staged a half-naked dharna. But this was not due to any failure of the government.”
He said that the impact of El Nino, lack of rainfall and depleted groundwater levels were the primary problems now. “We had made five years of advance planning to augment the power supply in the state. But nobody anticipated the impact of El Nino to such an extent that even drinking water could become a problem in the next 11 months,” he said.
He added: “Leaders should guide farmers instead of politicising the issue. We cannot stop El Nino. Beyond politics, let us face El Nino together as we faced the Covid-19.”
Vikramarka reiterated that the government has no plan to fix the meters to agriculture motors.