Hyderabad: Former Minister and BRS leader G. Jagadish Reddy accused the Congress government of shelving promises made during the elections. He also alleged failures in supplying adequate irrigation water, drinking water and electricity.
Reddy addressed a press conference at Telangana Bhavan on Saturday. He said the previous BRS government under K. Chandrashekar Rao had transformed Telangana’s power sector. He claimed the State had invested Rs.36,000 crore in Transco under the previous government. The investment strengthened the power transmission and distribution network, he said.
Congress government shelving promises, Reddy alleges
Reddy said the BRS government had expanded power infrastructure substantially. He claimed it had laid 28,000 km of power lines and increased the number of substations across different voltage capacities.
The former Minister said the strengthened distribution network had enabled the government to provide 24-hour electricity. He added that the previous government had also introduced round-the-clock free power supply to farmers.
However, Reddy alleged that the Congress government was moving towards privatisation of the power distribution sector. “Why hand over the power sector to private companies?” he asked. He alleged that such measures were intended to benefit private interests.
Reddy further alleged that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy was attempting to hand over Transco to his close associates. He described Transco as a revenue-generating public utility. The BRS leader also claimed that power distribution privatisation had not produced positive results in several places. He cited Odisha, Delhi and Mumbai as examples.
Therefore, Reddy urged the government to reconsider any move to privatise the power distribution sector. He maintained that the Congress government shelving promises had affected public services, including water and electricity supply.