The onset of monsoon is just 48 hours away. In fact, it has already entered parts of the State. There’s more good news. The State government has decided to lift power cuts in Hyderabad, Tirupati, Vizag, Warangal and all district headquarters, which means 24/7 power supply, with immediate effect.
The power cuts in mandals too have been reduced to two hours a day and six hours in rural areas. The move comes with the onset of the monsoon and the consequent reduction in demand for electricity.
Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Thursday directed officials to restore power supply to the maximum extent possible to all sectors.
For industries, power supply will be increased from 66 per cent to 80 from June 15. Briefing the Chief Minister at the Secretariat, the officials said several short-term and mid-term measures were being taken up. For example, 250 MW is being purchased and 550 MW will be available from the 16th of this month to June 15, 2016 from the corporate sector.
The Chief Minister ordered them to take steps to avert power cuts from this month to next May by planning and taking into account, demand from all sectors and availability of electricity from all sources.
As the southwest monsoon advanced further into Telangana and Coastal Andhra, it brought in its wake heavy rain in several parts of both the regions.
The highest amount of rainfall of 17 cm was recorded at Macharla in Guntur district on Thursday. Met officials predicted more rains due to a trough of low pressure covering Telangana and Coastal Andhra. While heavy downpour cooled Telangana, Rayalaseema received isolated rain.
Yerragondapalem in Prakasam district registered 8 cm ranfall while 6 cm of rainfall was at Asifabad in Adilabad district, Ramayampet in Medak district and Achampet in Mahabubnagar district.
The Met department predicted moderate to heavy rain or thundershowers at many places over Telangana and at a few places over Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema over the next 48 hours.
It warned that heavy rainfall is likely to occur at isolated places in the districts of Adilabad, Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Warangal and Khammam during the same period.
Meanwhile, a sunny day turned cloudy in Visakhapatnam but it rained little on Thursday. The weatherman said the steel city is likely to have rains aplenty from this weekend.
