Transco blind spot is CM’s bastion

hyderabad: kuppam, the vvip assembly constituency represented by chief minister n chandrababu naidu is often in the news for various developments but as far as the transmission corporation of andhra pradesh limited (transco) is concerned, kuppam is something that can be dismissed with a blank page. in its exhaustive compilation on the constituency-wise power consumption pattern, energy losses including power thefts, billing details and the like, transco has left the page on kuppam conspicuously blank.the report was presented to the legislative assembly during the recent budget session. asked why the kuppam page was left almost blank, sources in transco told the times of india that officials were directed not to furnish details about the constituency as it had a high percentage of power losses in all of chittoor district. as this information could give an opportunity to the opposition to kick up a controversy over power losses in the chief minister’s own constituency, 20 columns in the page were left blank except for three containing details on the number of eht sub-stations, additional power transformers and electrification of villages in the constituency. interestingly, the transco provided details of the power situation in 14 other constituencies in chittoor district. among the 15 constituencies in chittoor district, nagari tops the list where transco has been suffering losses to the tune of 34.59 per cent followed by srikalahasti (28.68 per cent) and palamaner (28.48 per cent). kuppam was left out as the constituency suffers more than 35 per cent losses, sources said, a revelation that could embarrass the chief minister who is seen as using an iron hand with respect to curbing losses in the power sector.