Hyderabad: Former minister T Harish Rao on Thursday criticised CM Revanth Reddy alleging that the state govt’s mismanagement was responsible for the ongoing power crisis and accusing it of unfairly blaming electricity officials for its failures.
Addressing a gathering of 22 farmer families in Siddipet, who reportedly did not receive insurance benefits on Thursday, Harish Rao said the state govt’s failure to pay the insurance premium to LIC had resulted in the scheme coming to a halt. He claimed that since August 14, premiums had not been remitted, depriving families of the ₹5 lakh insurance assistance previously provided under the programme. The former minister said that 22 farmer deaths had been reported in Siddipet alone since August 15, while nearly 3,000 farmers had died statewide during the same period.
Criticizing chief minister Revanth Reddy, Harish Rao alleged that several welfare schemes launched during the previous BRS govt had either been discontinued or neglected. He said the administration had failed to introduce the alternative insurance scheme announced in the state budget and questioned why a programme that had received recognition at national and international levels was allowed to lapse.
Speaking to media at Siddipet, Harish Rao said the state govt was trying to shift responsibility onto officials despite failing to adequately prepare for power demand and coal requirements. It has become a habit of the CM Revanth Reddy and ministers to escape accountability by targeting employees,” he said. Referring to warnings issued over the likely impact of El Niño, Harish Rao said that meteorologists and experts had been cautioning the govt for the past nine months, but the administration failed to take preventive measures. Comparing the situation to previous controversies, he said the state govt had similarly blamed officials over errors related to prohibited land lists. The suspension of the scheme has pushed thousands of affected families into financial distress, according to him.
He alleged that the Congress administration neither maintained sufficient coal stocks nor conducted timely reviews of the power sector, resulting in power shortages and outages. “The mistake is yours, but you are blaming officials. He alleged that the state govt was now threatening to suspend officials only after the crisis had emerged.