Former minister T Harish Rao has strongly objected to the proposal of establishing the Telangana Rythu Power Distribution Company Limited (TGRPDCL) and has urged the Telangana Electricity Regulatory Commission (TGERC) to reject the licence application. In a letter to the TGERC on Wednesday, Harish Rao highlighted that electricity was a core issue during the Telangana movement, along with water, funds, and jobs. He recalled that the power sector reforms during the united Andhra Pradesh regime led to the Basheerbagh firing incident, and that K Chandrasekhar Rao resigned from the deputy speaker post and launched the second phase of the Telangana movement in protest against the burden of electricity charges on farmers.
BRS government's achievements in power sector
Harish Rao stated that after the formation of Telangana, the BRS government prioritised the power sector and strengthened it with massive investments. This enabled Telangana to provide uninterrupted and quality free electricity to farmers from January 1, 2018, a first-of-its-kind initiative in the country. However, he alleged that the Congress government, after coming to power, had pushed the power sector into uncertainty through unplanned decisions.
Concerns over proposed third discom
Harish Rao expressed concern that the proposal to create a third discom in the name of 'Rythu Discom' has created fear and confusion among farmers and electricity consumers. He doubted that it was an attempt to move the electricity sector towards privatisation through impractical policies. In his objections submitted to the Commission, he raised several concerns:
- How did the state government announce that the Rythu Discom would begin operations from June 2 even before the public hearing process was completed?
- Neither farmers, farmers' organisations, public representatives, nor power utilities had demanded a separate farmers' discom.
- There was no cabinet sub-committee recommendation supporting such a move.
- The government itself admitted in GO No. 44 that existing discoms were facing financial stress due to the gap between billing rates and cost of service, proving the proposal was financially driven rather than aimed at farmers' welfare.
Demand for public hearings
Harish Rao urged the Commission to conduct public hearings across all districts of Telangana instead of limiting consultations to Hyderabad, as the decision would impact all sections of electricity consumers in the state. He alleged that pressure was being exerted on the Commission to grant the licence and called for a transparent process.
