It’s yet another summer, and Goans are still awaiting the promised acche din on electricity supply? The common man continues to sweat it out in the sweltering summer heat and massive power cuts have only turned the situation into a living hell. Frequent power outages lasting for several hours, some of them stretching from morning to evening and even intermittently in the late night hours have crippled life. The agony continues. There has been no concern for the helplessly-waiting common man with the entire system remaining completely insensitive to their woes.
The worst has been Calangute, the tourism capital of Goa, and adjoining Candolim. At the Pilerne Industrial Estate, power disruptions have been a routine affair for the past four years, literally forcing industries to shift base. That’s not all. South Goa too has been badly hit with power supply tripping at regular intervals even as it awaits a major shutdown on Saturday. And even as this piece was being written, there has been a sudden power cut which lasted for 25 minutes.
Leave alone the acche din promised by the BJP government, better days promised by a pompous-sounding Nilesh Cabral, soon after his crowning as the new power minister, have been long forgotten. Lest we forget, Cabral gave Goans a shocker with a quick-fix solution soon after succeeding ailing Pandurang Madkaikar. He took the onus of achieving what no other power minister achieved in Goa thus far. Nilesh promised 23 hours of power supply a day and assured quick resolution of complaints sent to him on his cellphone number 9822103292. He spelt out his priorities of underground cabling and bringing industrialists to the discussion table. Even Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar tried his bit when he briefly assumed responsibility of the Electricity Department in Madkaikar’s absence. He had proposed SOPs for planned maintenance and also directed to hold division-wise meetings with MLAs besides constituting district-level committees to resolve related issues.
None of these promises and measures have given relief to the common man. Goans continue to burn their midnight oil waiting in hope to see the promised ‘light’ at the end of the tunnel. So where does the buck stop? From blaming the common man for overloads to holding JEs and an outdated infrastructure responsible, there have been numerous excuses that have remained constant all these years. The power sector which needs a complete overhaul continues to get patchwork and a permanent long term solution continues to elude.
Goa is boasting of planning a major IT revolution. We are in the midst of concepts like electronic city, innovation and IT Parks. The government is wooing industrialists to invest in the State with the hope that job opportunities will be created and State’s economy will scales new highs. With a crippled infrastructure where basics like power and water are not consistent, Goa looks to be a very grim picture not only to its people, but to the investors as well. While there is a battle for power playing in the background, government should also devote some of its time and energies to the power supply issues of the State.
