PANAJI
The Pramod Sawant-led BJP government has come in for some severe criticism from Opposition politicians and consumer activists for its move proposing a hike in power tariffs, including for domestic consumers, starting this year and also for two consecutive years thereafter in the petition it moved before the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC).
However, Power Minister Ramkrishna (Sudin) Dhavalikar has stoutly defended the move saying it is "inevitable" owing to the Rs 400 crore-plus gap in expenditure and revenue.
Dhavalikar also argued that the miniscule hike of six paise per unit can "hardly be called a hike" and even after it is implemented if and when the JERC approves it, the cost of power in Goa will still be substantially lower than in the two neighbouring States of Maharashtra and Karnataka across all categories.
The power minister said, he has been personally monitoring the revenue flows of the Electricity Department and nearly 30 per cent of the long-pending arrears had been recovered while nearly 15% increase in revenues when the target is just 10%, have been realised.
Sources in the Electricity Department, however, said the increase in power costs for the individual domestic consumer (monthly bills) will vary between 4.6% to 6.5 per cent depending on the load and amount of power consumed in each billing cycle.
"For example a consumer whose current billing is in the Rs 250 to Rs 400 range will be paying a maximum of Rs 20 additional when the proposed tariff hikes are imposed," a senior engineer told The Goan.
Nonetheless, Leader of the Opposition Yuri Alemao slammed the government saying instead of putting the burden on the average Goan, the revenue gaps should be filled up by collecting the pending dues from the Casinos.
"I strongly oppose the Goa government's proposed power tariff hike and urge the JERC to reject it. With already soaring inflation, LPG prices, food costs, and fuel rates, an increase in power tariffs would further burden the common man," Alemao said, adding that the government's focus should be on recovering the pending power dues from industries.
"It is imperative that the government prioritizes collecting dues from casinos and green cess from big industries rather than burdening the people," the Congress leader said and demanded that the government pursue fair and people-centric policies, not additional financial burdens.
Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Benaulim MLA, Venzy Viegas was equally livid at the government's proposal to hike power tariffs especially when power costs were increased by more than 3.5 per cent in June last year.
"Hiking tariffs is an easy way out to bridge the revenue gaps. Instead, the government should recover the pending arrears of around Rs 1,000 crore from defaulters and also eliminate the inefficiencies in the department which lead to massive power thefts where no effort is made at all," Viegas said.
