With the strike by power sector employees agitating against the creation of Telangana state showing no signs of abating, power crisis has sneaked into Hyderabad as well, with the state capital witnessing two hours of outage every day.

The strike has crippled life in Seemandhra region, badly hitting hospitals and water supply. Train service on the region also stands partially affected. “It is a complete standstill with the blackout hitting major services,” a senior bureaucrat told this correspondent.

Over 30,000 employees from the power sector have boycotted work in Seemandhra region, protesting the Centre’s decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh.

READ MORE ABOUT THE AP GENESIS: How Cong took Andhra Pradesh to knotty T-junction

Meanwhile, chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy is holding talks with the Seemandhra Electricity Joint Action Committee in an effort to end the power crisis.  However, chairman of the joint action committee, Sai Baba, seems to be in no mood to relent. He told reporters that there was no question of withdrawing the agitation unless the Centre changes its decision on statehood for Telangana.

“We are not going to stop unless there is a positive announcement from the union government. We do not want our state to be divided. People are ready to make any sacrifice to keep Andhra Pradesh united. There will be no exemption to anyone – be it hospitals, water supply units or the agriculture sector,” he said.

As the fear of the collapse of the southern grid loomed large, chief ministers of Karnataka (K Siddaramaiah) and Tamil Nadu (J Jayalalithaa) called up Reddy expressing concern about the blackout, which will eventually affect their states as well. Tthe Andhra CM reportedly told both his counterparts that he was helpless.

Government officials said the shutdown was a serious one. “It has affected the entire Seema-Andhra region. In fact powercuts have begun in Hyderabad as well,” one official said.

The Vijayawada thermal power station, Rayalaseema thermal power station, Sreesailam right bank hydel generation station, Upper Seelaru station, and the Donkarayee power project have shut down completely, officials said. ATM services, power supply and fuel stations also stand badly affected.

With hospitals affected, most incubators in Visakhapatnam's super-specialty King George Hospital are not working, putting newborns at great risk. The burn wards are struggling without air-conditioning. The hospital reportedly has only a four-hour inverter backup.

The airports at Tirupathi and Vijayawada are running on backup power and it is only a matter of time before they, too, run out of resources and will need to shut operations.

Partial respite in some areas

A partial relaxation of the strike by employees of EPDCPL, the eastern wing of Andhra Pradesh Power Distribution Corporation Limited, has brought only brief respite to a few districts. Power was restored to a few towns and villages of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam districts on Monday night.
The agitating employees agreed to restore power supply from midnight on Monday night till 6 am Tuesday following fruitful talks held by the authorities in Visakhapatnam.

Employees of SPDCL, the southern wing, also showed some charity, restoring power to temple town Tirumala. Power supply was maintained to the hill shrine all through Monday in view of the ongoing Brahmotsavams. The authorities hope the pilgrim hub will receive uninterrupted power throughout the span of the annual spiritual event.

But other places in Chittoor, Kadapa, Guntur, Nellore, Prakasam and Krishna were not that lucky. Hundreds of villages and a few municipalities remain without power in these districts since Sunday night.

In all, in areas under EPDCL limits, power supply plummeted to 230 MW against a demand of 1520 MW. Under SPDCL limits, the supply came down to 340 MW from the usual 2,150 MW. AP Genco estimates that a total of 3,870 MW power generation has been disrupted in the state on Monday alone.
Meanwhile, the state government is purchasing power on ad hoc basis to deal with the crisis. About 350 MW has been purchased at a premium to tide over the immediate necessities.

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As of October 9, over 30,000 agitating electricity department employees say they will continue their strike for at least two more weeks. Their agitation has shut down six of the seven units at the power plant in Vijayawada, which meets over a third of AP’s power demand.

The Vijayawada plant shutdown has led to a shortfall of over 3,500 MW, forcing authorities to resort to long powercuts in Hyderabad and several other cities. Officials even fear a collapse of the southern grid, which caters to neighbouring states.

Large parts of coastal AP have been affected by the protests and the power crisis. Reports say ATMs are not functioning in cities like Vijayawada, while several trains have been cancelled.

Some 70,000 government employees on strike from Seemandhra have not taken their salary for the last two months – ever since the Congress gave in to demands for carving out Telangana, with Hyderabad as its capital.

Congress factions allege that the protests are backed by the CM, Kiran Kumar Reddy, who comes from Seemandhra and has publicly opposed the bifurcation move. Sources have ruled out any action against Reddy as of now but say the party high command is watching closely how he handles the crisis.

Anti-Telangana protests have triggered competitive fasts by politicians: after YSR Congress chief Jaganmohan Reddy began an indefinite hunger strike in Hydebarad on October 5, Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu launched a similar protest in New Delhi on October 7.

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh has accused both Naidu and Jagan of changing their stand on Telangana with an eye on next year’s elections to both parliament and the state assembly. Both had earlier been seen as ambiguous on the T-issue as they drew their support largely from non-Telangana regions.

According to a report in New Indian Express (read it here) Seemandhra, or what will be left over after carving out the Telangana state, will retain the name. As per the Cabinet note on Telangana prepared by the union home ministry, it was proposed that the new state be named as ‘Telangana’ and the name of residuary state may be retained as Andhra Pradesh.