the goan I network
PANAJI
Several industry representatives criticised Electricity Department heavily saying that power outages and fluctuations in this summer have caused them tremendous losses. They were speaking at the annual general meeting of Goa State Industries Association (GSIA), which completed 54 years of its existence.
Rajkumar Kamat, President, GSIA, said, “Within the first fortnight of June, nearly 25% of production was lost due to power outages. This will be our area of focus for the next few months. A close co-ordination between GSIA, Electricity Department and Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) for systematic monitoring needs to be established.”
A number of dignitaries were present on the occasion including Rohan Khaunte, Minister for Labour and Employment, Revenue and Information-Technology (IT) (who was also the chief guest at the event), Glenn Ticlo, Chairman of GIDC, and several others.
Kamat added, “Electricity Department is very prompt in pointing out at Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) when it comes to installing transformers for giving power connection to entrepreneurs, but there is no real improvement in the power situation. This is not to say that the Electricity Department is not working but it is not giving results.”
He further said, “Even small entrepreneurs with requirement less than 30 HP are not spared from this demand of installing transformers.”
This is not the first time that the industrialists have cried foul at poor power quality in the state. However, this year in particular the power cuts and voltage fluctuations were so severe that it very badly affected the manufacturing operations of several companies. Moreover, small businessmen are forced to install their own transformers, which is actually the responsibility of the Power Department.
Ticlo said, “(Power) fluctuations is a major problem. It’s a big loss to the entrepreneurs. There is a need to get separate power lines (for the industry).”
On the good side, the industrialists gave a lot of credit to GIDC for simplifying the sub-lease and transfer regulations of plots in the industrial estates.
