Hyderabad: Delayed replacement of batteries caused power plant accident says Nagam Janardhan Reddy

Hyderabad: Former Minister and Congress leader Dr Nagam Janardhan Reddy claimed that delayed replacement of batteries used for power generation caused tragic accident at Srisailam power project.

Speaking to media persons, Reddy said that the it was more than three months since the batteries used for power generation were dead and the power was being generated directly with the help of chargers, risking everything.

"When the staff tried to replace the old batteries with new ones, the completely exhausted and several months old batteries triggered fire. Moreover, there remained poor visibility in the unit, as even the UPS batteries were not replaced and this is a clear case of maintenance failure and no efforts were made by CMD or Minister to look into the matter for months," he noted.

Former Minister said that CMD rather taking responsibility was creating an impression that the accident was triggered by a short-circuit. "This is the first time that the prestigious hydel power project witnessed such an accident.

The Chief Minister is more interested in projects, reengineering and redesigning, but existing ones are being neglected. Government should take responsibility and order CBI probe," he added.