No smart meters
Government of India is planning to introduce smart energy meters to curb a power theft said Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal. He also said that average AT & C losses of power at certain states are between 24 to 26 percent and in Andhra Pradesh it is 9.4 percent.
This whole exercise appears illogical. No doubt the meter readings will be accurate since it is digital, if all the parameters are in place. Also on line readings could be obtained from a home computer as per the software. The concept of smart meters is not yet well defined, whether it will be on par with foreign countries . The question is, will it be doing the job to plug power thefts? The electricity department should first think of various existing electrical supply drawbacks, before these meters are introduced.
The underground cabling must be properly laid down at certain distance as per the stipulated regulations from other items such as water pipeline, telephone cabling, gutters, sewage lines, and high tension lines to avoid any leakages and spikes. Necessary capping must be fixed at both ends immediately to avoid blockage. The earthing mainly at the sub-station and at the metallic poles must be perfectly done as per procedure. Outdoor streetlights must be switched off in time. Defective insulators at various poles and sub-stations must be replaced with adequate quality and capacity and maintained regularly to avoid any electrical leakages due to the dust or bird droppings etc.
All old conductors and cabling wires need to be replaced. Also lines passing through public property must be removed. Voltage stability in all phases must be maintained under balanced distribution system with adequate power stabilized transformers, at different locations, depending upon the load demand. For citizen and cattle safety, perfect earthing of all metal supports should be ensured and records maintained for future reference and guidance. The transformer switch at the distribution boards must be well protected from rain water and locked from unauthorized citizens who could tamper with it, causing unwelcome disasters and even electrocution. If the above work if not updated on a serious note then it is better to postpone installations of smart digital meters, in the interest of the common man.
Stephen Dias
The news report 'Govt school in Ponda breaks MoI barrier" (The Goan Everyday, June 22) raises the question that if students from UP, Rajasthan, Telangana, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Nepal can be funded and subjected by government to a primary education in a language other than their mother tongue, in this case Marathi, then why can't the same rule apply for Goan children studying in English medium schools? Is the claim that children's cognitive development being better if educated in their mother tongue just a cock and bull story of the communal forces for harassment of Christian institutions?
Soter D’Souza, Porvorim
