Hyderabad: Former minister T Harish Rao on Thursday blamed state govt’s alleged mismanagement for the ongoing power crisis and accused chief minister Revanth Reddy of unfairly targeting electricity officials.Speaking in Siddipet, Rao said govt had failed to prepare for power demand and coal requirements, maintain sufficient coal stocks or conduct timely reviews, resulting in shortages and outages.He said meteorologists and experts had warned govt for nine months about the likely impact of El Nino, but it failed to take preventive measures and was now threatening to suspend officials. He demanded that govt accept responsibility instead of shifting blame.Rao also accused Telangana govt of discontinuing Rythu Bima introduced by former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, leaving thousands of bereaved farmer families without financial support.Addressing 22 farmer families in Siddipet who reportedly had not received insurance benefits, Rao said govt’s failure to pay the premium to LIC had halted the scheme. He claimed premiums had not been remitted since Aug 14, depriving families of the Rs 5 lakh assistance provided under the programme.Rao said 22 farmer deaths had been reported in Siddipet since Aug 15, while nearly 3,000 farmers had died across the state during the same period.He alleged that several welfare schemes launched by the previous BRS govt had been discontinued or neglected. He said the administration had also failed to introduce the alternative insurance scheme announced in the state budget.Rao said Rythu Bima had compensated more than 1.38 lakh farmer families between 2018-19 and 2023-24, with payments totalling about Rs 7,000 crore. He said BRS govt had paid annual premiums of about Rs 1,400 crore to provide insurance coverage for farmers.
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