Power troubles AP people as summer peaks

By Desaraju Surya

AMARAVATI: Power woes are haunting the people of Andhra Pradesh even as the summer is cruising to its peak.

About 34 per cent of people across the state have complained about power interruptions while another 51.39 per cent highlighted the constant voltage fluctuations.

There is a slight improvement in the situation in March as compared to February but overall the troubles seem to continue.

In the feedback on power supply issues obtained by the state government, 34.01 per cent respondents replied in the negative when asked if they were getting uninterrupted power supply.

The response was ‘Yes’ to the question, “Are you experiencing any voltage problems?”

More than half the state is facing power interruptions and voltage issues, going by the people’s response.

Anantapuramu district topped the chart in power interruptions with 45 per cent respondents saying they were not getting uninterrupted power supply.

Kadapa (42 per cent), Annamayya and Prakasam (41 per cent each), Sri Satya Sai (39 per cent), Chittoor and Konaseema (38 per cent each), NTR (37), Kakinada and Kurnool (36 per cent each) and Eluru (35 per cent) are the other districts where there are complaints about power disruptions. In nine other districts, 30-34 per cent people raised a complaint on this issue.

In Guntur and Visakhapatnam districts, the lowest percentage of 25 experienced power disruption.

Annamayya district seemed to have the biggest problem with voltage as a staggering 63 per cent people complained about it. In Anantapuramu, Parvatipuram Manyam and West Godavari it was 60 per cent, Alluri Sitarama Raju, Sri Satya Sai and Kadapa 58 per cent, Vizianagaram 56 per cent, Anakapalli 54 and Kakinada 53 per cent.

Nandyala, Srikakulam, Tirupati, Konaseema, Eluru and Prakasam were the other districts where complaints about voltage were over 50 per cent.

Guntur had the least percentage (40) of complaints in this regard.

When the government elicited feedback on power supply in February, 38.04 per cent complained about power disruptions and 53.81 per cent about voltage fluctuations.

These numbers have marginally come down in the March survey but the problems continue to remain so high.