Andhra farmers & free power: Will Reddy keep his promise?

Crops in power starved Andhra Pradesh continue to suffer without water and debts pile up for farmers in the state as Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy’s promise of free electricity for seven hours a day to agriculturists has turned out to be a myth.

“To make sure that farmers do not lose their crops, Andhra Pradesh is buying power at high costs ensuring seven hours of free power for farmers,” Reddy told the state Assembly on 26 March this year.

But when CNN-IBN visited Medak district in the state, the reality nowhere near to what the chief minister had announced.

Komini, a woman farmer, is struggling to irrigate her maize crop that she planted in two acres of land. Without electricity, the borewell lies idle making the crop suffer in the scorching summer heat.

“I have five acres of agricultural land. But I grew crops only in two acres because of power crisis. I am a widow. How would I pay my loans now?” asked Komini.

Power shortage has been so acute in Andhra Pradesh that several farmers spend the night on the fields to the turn the borewell on as soon as power is available. The desperation to water the agriculture fields whenever power is available for a few minutes has even led to freaking deaths due to electrocution.

That’s how Amruta lost her husband a year ago.

“He went to water the field at night. He got a high voltage shock and died. I am too afraid to go to the field again. I don’t even allow my sons go there because there are exposed wires all over,” Amruta told CNN-IBN.

Medak district has the highest number of farmer suicides in Andhra Pradesh. Crop failure due to power shortage is a big reason.

Despite this pathetic power situation, state officials are hardly bothered. The apathy of officials forces farmers like Ramulu to correct faults in transmission lines and transformers themselves often at great risk to their lives.

“Every time there is a problem with our transformer we complain but no one comes to fix it,” said Ramulu.