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Why Are Indian Farmers Saying No To 24-Hour Electricity Supply?

For farmers in this region, who face steep water shortage every year, electricity round the clock is turning out to be a menace.

In a country where elections are fought and won on promises of connectivity and power supply, not every section is happy with the development.

Farmers from drought prone state of Telangana want the officials to discontinue 24-hour electricity supply and go back to the 9-hour cycle as they fear it will cause "excessive pumping of ground water".

For farmers in this region, who face steep water shortage every year, electricity round the clock is turning out to be a menace. The electric motors that connects automatically to the power supply is draining out the ground water, leading to drying up of bore wells, reported BBC Telugu.

Earlier this year, Telangana Government as its pilot project, had announced 24x7 electricity supply to three distrcits of Medak, Nalgonda an Karimnagar. The power deficient state expected that the move would be able to able to help the famers manage their power requirements and ensure better yields.

It, however, has backfired as farmers from all the three aforementioned distrcits have come forward to lodge complaint with the concerned authorities asking to roll back the decision.

Although authorities have not officially announced that they are cutting supply, one official told BBC Telugu that they have restricted electricity to 12 hours a day.

The area inhibts about a million agricultural consumers.

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