HYDERABAD: At a time when the Telangana government is struggling to meet the growing power demand in the state, Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday directed officials of the energy department to make necessary arrangements for supplying 24X7 uninterrupted power to domestic and industrial sectors in both urban and rural areas across the state.
During the AP Cabinet meeting, Naidu reportedly told the officials of the energy department that since the state has zero power deficit, they should see that domestic and industrial sectors in both urban and rural areas get 24X7 uninterrupted power supply.
According to sources, when officials told Naidu that it was too early to give 24X7 uninterrupted power to the entire state as it was purchasing power from various power producers, Naidu said it was a temporary phase as many of the ongoing power projects would be completed in a year’s time. “We are in a comfortable position. We should be able to do it,” he reportedly told officials.
Officials pointed out that though the shortage of power supply has been considerably brought down from 16 million units per day to zero, several towns and cities are still reeling under power cuts, the sources said.
In fact, AP had 8,307 MW total generation capacity as on June 2, 2014 - the day it was formed, along with Telangana, after bifurcation of the erstwhile AP. Against the total installed capacity of 8,400 MW, AP is generating 6,800 MW to 7,200 MW as on date.
Special Casual Leave
The AP government decided to consider the 44 days Samaikyandhra agitation period, in which government employees had taken part, as special casual leave. Government’s decision would benefit thousands of government employees who took part in the Samikyandhra agitation. The decision would put an additional burden of Rs 4,000 crore on the exchequer.