Farmers insist on automatic starters

Khammam: The farmers in the district are vehemently opposing the government decision to remove automatic pump set starters from their fields. Pointing to lack of electric supply during the day and irregular timings of the supply, they say they are depending on the automatic starters to save their motors from burnout. But, worried over more load and wastage of power, the TSNPDCL officials are asking the farmers to remove the devices as they are causing damage to transformers.

They suggest replacement of automatic starters with capacitors to bring down wastage and avoid transformer losses.

However, the farmers are not relenting and entering into arguments and even quarrels with the discom staff for their bid to eliminate the starters issue in the district. They are even holding protests in front of discom offices in their mandal headquarters, demanding that the government refrain from the move which would harm their interests. A farmer B Ram Mohan rued the losses they are incurring on account of unscheduled power cuts. The farmers cannot stay indefinitely in their fields, waiting for the power supply.

They took recourse to automatic starters to ensure adequate irrigation of water-intensive crops such as paddy, maize, vegetables and chilli. The farmers vexed over the inadequate and erratic power supply had been using auto starters for the last few years, but the government was now suddenly seeking their removal, he flayed.

However, the discom officials deny charges of unscheduled power cuts and maintain they are supplying enough power on demand. According to them, Khammam district has 6.2 lakh power connections including 1.06 agricultural connections. In Kothagudem, there are a total of 4.22 lakhs of power connections of which 47,978 are agricultural connections. If auto starters were removed, it would avoid causing damages to the transformers, they plead.