PoliticsHyderabadYadadri Bhuvanagiri
Morning Pulse: Revanth asks farmers to skip rabi paddy as KTR alleges a coal-import scam
The Chief Minister called El Nino a natural disaster and asked farmers to avoid a rabi crop. A Yadadri engineer was suspended, five IAS officers went to the plant, and KTR blamed a planned coal import. Today's all-party meeting is off.
Pan India Pulse deskBased on reports from Deccan Chronicle, Namasthe Telangana, The Hans India, Telangana Todayతెలుగులో చదవండి
On Thursday, Telangana's power and water shortage got three different explanations, and each one points to a different culprit. The Chief Minister called it a natural disaster and asked farmers to give up a crop. The administration suspended an engineer and sent IAS officers to watch a power plant. The BRS said the shortage was being stage-managed to justify costly coal imports.
After what Deccan Chronicle described as an informal Cabinet meeting, A Revanth Reddy urged farmers to avoid rabi cultivation, paddy above all, and asked people to save water and power for eight to ten months. He gave stark numbers, as the paper reported them. Rainfall is 23 per cent short. Water availability is down 72 per cent in the Krishna basin and 40 per cent in the Godavari basin. Reservoirs hold 209 tmc ft, against 460 tmc ft last October. Power demand touched 20,003 MW on Thursday, when October normally needs about 15,000 MW, with around 30 lakh farm pumpsets running. He said the state is buying power on the market to save standing crops until the harvest, about 20 days away.
He wants the Centre's help. He said he would lead an all-party delegation to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah in the first week of November. Closer to home, the all-party meeting on El Nino set for this morning at the Secretariat has been postponed, Namasthe Telangana reported, citing a government statement. Deccan Chronicle reported the Chief Minister as saying it will now be held after Dasara. No new date has been given.
Since yesterday's Morning Pulse, the Chief Minister's warning to energy officials has led to action, but lower down the chain. Suresh Naik, Chief Engineer of Stage 1 at the Yadadri Thermal Power Station, was suspended by the Genco CMD on the energy secretary's instructions after an 800 MW unit went offline, The Hans India reported. He is accused of failing to coordinate staff. The reports we read did not say whether he has responded. Chief Secretary Sanjay Jaju also ordered five IAS officers to take turns camping at the plant from 15 to 30 October. Telangana Today reported that they will check coal flow, the grade of coal received, whether all four units get enough coal, and why generation was lost.
KT Rama Rao offered a different diagnosis. In an open letter to the Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and Union Coal Minister G Kishan Reddy, he alleged that a planned import of foreign coal through a private logistics firm could hide a Rs 3,000-crore scam. He put the alleged commissions at Rs 1,500 a tonne. Deccan Chronicle noted that he said no coal had been imported yet. He demanded a white paper, an independent probe and an account of about Rs 60,000 crore he said is owed to Singareni. He also asked why Singareni's output fell from 70.02 million tonnes in 2023-24 to about 58 million tonnes in 2025-26. In the reports we read, neither government, Singareni nor Kishan Reddy had replied to this letter or to his Godavarikhani allegations.
A second corruption charge came from a contractor. In a letter to the Builders Association of India, RVM Constructions MD Nama Ramesh alleged that the Chief Minister demanded a 15 per cent commission for awarding Radial Road-2 projects and for releasing bills, The News Minute reported. He also alleged that Sushee Infra, linked to the family of Congress MLA K Rajagopal Reddy, was unfairly disqualified. That dispute is in court. KTR seized on the letter on X, Telangana Today reported. We saw no response from the Chief Minister's Office, the government or Hyderabad Growth Corridor Ltd, and the claims have not been independently verified.
The voter enrolment camps close today. A Booth Level Officer is meant to be at every polling station to take Form 6 from people missing from the draft roll and from first-time voters, The Hans India and Telangana Today reported. Additional CEO Vasam Venkateswar Reddy inspected camps in Jubilee Hills on Thursday. No turnout figures have been released. The Telangana High Court was due to hear the SIR petition on Thursday, but by publication we had seen no report of what happened. We had also seen nothing on whether the Supreme Court has listed Asaduddin Owaisi's petition.
Pulse view
Analysis by the Pulse deskTelling farmers to skip paddy is the most candid thing the government has said in this crisis, and also the most costly. It moves part of the burden from the power grid to the farmer's field, and the state has not yet said what support comes with that advice. Then there is the timing. The government postponed the all-party meeting on the same day it called the situation a disaster that needs everyone's help.
The responses also differ in scale. Suspending a chief engineer and sending IAS officers to Yadadri tackles problems inside the plant. KTR's charge is aimed at decisions taken above it, on imports and unpaid dues. His claim is about a deal he says has not happened yet, and it can be checked if the government publishes the proposal. The commission charge, meanwhile, comes from a firm siding with a contractor linked to a Congress MLA known to be at odds with the Chief Minister, in a tender fight that is already in court. Neither charge is proven, and so far the government has answered neither.
If farmers are asked to give up a season's crop for the common good, should the government first publish the Yadadri review and the coal import plan, so the public can judge whether the shortage is only nature's doing?
What they are saying
Water cannot be purchased like other commodities. We must save every drop.
it starts with the Chief Minister himself.
Nearly Rs 20,000 crores payment is due to contractors in Telangana against certified bills
What to watch
- A new date for the postponed all-party meeting on El Nino, and any support package for farmers who skip rabi paddy.
- What the IAS officers at Yadadri find, and whether action reaches above plant level.
- Any reply from the government, Singareni or Kishan Reddy to KTR's coal-import letter, and any disclosure of the import proposal.
- Any response from the Chief Minister's Office to the Radial Road-2 commission allegation, and the next court hearing in the tender dispute.
- The outcome of the High Court's SIR hearing, enrolment figures from the camps, and the India-West Indies T20 decider in Bengaluru on 17 October.
Your take
Do you agree with the Pulse view?
Sources
- CM Revanth Appeals to Farmers To Avoid Rabi Crops To Save Water and Power Deccan Chronicle
- All-party meeting on El Nino postponed (Telugu) Namasthe Telangana
- Yadadri Thermal Power Plant chief engineer suspended The Hans India
- Five IAS officers deployed to review Yadadri plant operations Telangana Today
- KTR alleges Rs 3,000-crore coal import scam, seeks white paper on power crisis Telangana Today
- K.T. Rama Rao Alleges Rs 3,000 cr Coal Import Scam Plans, Demands Scrapping Deal Deccan Chronicle
- Hyderabad construction firm alleges 15% commission demands for tenders by Revanth govt The News Minute
- KTR accuses Revanth Reddy of corruption over alleged 15 per cent commission demand in Radial Road-2 tenders Telangana Today
- Telangana holds special camps for voter registration during electoral roll revision Telangana Today
- Telangana BLOs available to register new voters The Hans India