The issue of power cuts & supply has taken a political twist following a demonstration by a couple of TDP MLAs - Taneti Vanitha from Gopalapuram and Chintamaneni Prabhakar of Denduluru at the office of the Eastern Distribution Company Limited (EPDCL) here on Saturday along with their supporters.

Fearing trouble, the EPDCL personnel locked the main gates and remained inside even as the TDP leaders continued with their protest outside the office, seeking an audience from the higher-ups.Later, the party leaders shifted the scene to the fire office centre where they staged a rasta roko holding up vehicles on the busy road.

The police arrested both the legislators and let them off later. The party leaders accused the State government of subjecting all sections of people to hardship with its inept handling of the power problem.The TDP MLA from Undi V. Sivarama Raju highlighted the problem in a unique way by staging a protest half naked at a sub-station of the Transco at Undi a month ago. He sought to focus the plight of the power consumers under domestic sector who were allegedly subjected to sleepless nights by the Transco by resorting to indiscriminate power cuts during the nights.

The protest by Ms. Vanitha and Mr. Prabhakar who represent the upland area in the district brought to the fore the problems faced by farmers irrigating their fields under borewells on account of erratic power supply through. The paddy farmers have been engaged in raising nursery beds and transplantations in the upland regions as part of the kharif operations which were getting hampered by inadequate and poor quality of power supply.

The power crisis has an adverse bearing on the industrial output, especially the paper mills and the ice factories.

the three-day power holiday slapped on the industrial sector is leading to closure of several industries, Ms.Vanita alleged. An official from the EPDCL said they were failing to cope with the situation due to a mismatch between the power supply and the demand.As the kharif season set in, the power consumption in agricultural sector has gone up. There was no let up in the consumption in the domestic sector due to the continuing dry spell and the subsequent sweltering heat, he said.

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