Telangana Kharif harvest will be an expensive proposition

In rabi season, a vigorous campaign by the government not to sow paddy but to opt for dry crops has paid off and farmers reduced the sowing substantially. Agricultural department says the paddy was cultivated in just 4.66 lakh hectares in rabi season as against 8.28 lakh hectares in the corresponding year. The total cropped area in the state comes around 16 lakh hectares and paddy contributes half of that.

Farmers stopped sowing as they were afraid of not getting power supply enough to fuel their pump sets and the government’s warnings have reduced it further. But this time, the kharif scenario may change as the total paddy sowing area may cross 10 lakh hectares. “For this, at least 1.500 MW of additional power is needed,” a senior official TS enegry department said.

Telangana expects another 1,000 MW-1,200 MW of short term power and this is expected to cater to the agricultural demand.

“If the water levels in reservoirs are at satisfactory levels, then there will be no problem. But if there is less rain, things can get tough,” sources said. The state expects Powertech Infra and Jhajhar would come to the rescue. In that case, sources said the finance department have to shell out an additional Rs 1,500- Rs 1,800 crore for the crucial four-month period of kharif season.

Since the domestic demand is expected to come down in the coming months, Discoms can arrange seven hours supply in two sessions. “But any additional expenditure would mean a cascading effect on the subsidy bill next year,” said Kancherla Raghu, an expert in power sector.