MLAs press for end to power outages

Panaji: Irked by the frequent power cuts in the state, members of the state legislative assembly, including from the ruling side, on Tuesday cornered the government and demanded immediate solution to the power woes. 

Marcaim MLA Ramakrishna ‘Sudin’ Dhavalikar raised the issue of frequent power failure in parts of his constituency as well as in the state, and moved a calling attention motion in the state assembly.

Trees and old electrical poles are posing danger to commuters and residents, he observed.

“The state has been witnessing power cuts in the last 15-20 days…,” he said, adding that the electricity department has failed to carry out pre-monsoon maintenance work. 

Porvorim MLA Rohan Khaunte lashed out at a particular assistant electricity engineer working in his constituency for failing to understand the issues related to the power distribution.

He asked Power Minister Nilesh Cabral to come out with an action plan for ending the frequent power outages.

Benaulim MLA Churchill Alemao                called the department’s personnel as ‘lazy’, but said that engineers do respond to phone calls.

They are unable to fix faults in power distribution, he claimed. 

“If you can impose fines on consumers for not paying the electricity bill then similarly the department should pay compensation to consumers for frequent power cuts,” Deputy Speaker Isidore Fernandes suggested.

Mayem MLA Pravin Zantye claimed that his constituency has been plagued by power outages, sometimes even continuously for 24 hours.

Sanguem MLA Prasad Gaonkar attributed the power woes in his constituency to the shortage of manpower.

St Andre MLA Francisco Silveira stated that power outages last at least for four hours on a daily basis in his constituency.

Extending his support to the electricity department for ending power woes, Curtorim MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco said the celebration of ‘Konnsanchem Fest’ in Raia on Monday was affected by power outages.

Replying to the concerns expressed by the legislators, Cabral maintained that the department staff pull out all the stops to detect faults on high and low tension wires, which takes a lot of time.

“Even my constituency faces the problem of power outages. The department is buffeted by the inclement weather…,” he said, assuring the House that the department will soon complete the work of underground cabling.

 “Underground cabling and ‘aerial bunch cable’ are the permanent solution, and we are working towards it.  By August-end all process for tendering the work will be completed. We will soon undertake the work for upgradation and replacement of the old infrastructure which has been in use for over 30-35 years,” he explained.