PANAJI
Aam Aadmi Party on Thursday said that Power Minister Nilesh Cabral has once again attempted to misguide the people of Goa over the high electricity bills. Cabral had said that electricity charges are lesser in Goa as compared to Delhi at a press conference a few days ago.
Responding to the minister's statements, AAP Spokesperson Surel Tilve said: “In the first place electricity is free in Delhi for those who consume up to 200 units of power while in Goa people are charged up to Rs 2.25 per unit for the same amount of consumption”.
Pointing out that in Delhi, those consuming 400 units of power are paying Rs 1,075 while in Goa people consuming 400 units have to pay Rs 1,217, he said what matters is the amount the public have to pay and not the tariff that Cabral is referring to.
“In Goa, given the fact that approximately 70 per cent consumers use between 69 to 361 units, replicating the Delhi model of power bills will benefit lakhs of people and this is one of the things that we had asked the Power Minister to study in Delhi,” said Adv Surel.
He said that Cabral has focussed only on one aspect while ignoring the other issues raised by AAP, including tapping renewable energy sources, about which the minister is not doing anything but instead promoting thermal power plants which use coal that is recognised to be the most polluting source of energy in the world.
“Cabral is not working for the Aam Aadmi but Khas Aadmi,” said Adv Surel, and pointed out that instead of giving power bill relief to the common man, Cabral's government has waived Rs 277 crore for casinos who are privileged people,” he said.
Besides, he pointed out that in Delhi people are compensated for any unannounced power cut while in Goa unannounced power cuts are the order of the day and said in Cabral's neighbourhood Netravali there is no power supply for days without any announcement.
“In Delhi, there is 24-hour power supply as power cuts have been reduced by 85 per cent and we wanted the power minister to study these aspects too and not merely the power tariff,” he said while opining that the power minister is probably rattled because his government cannot fulfil what their Delhi leaders want them to do.
“People’s protests against the projects hefted upon Goa by the Centre has probably made him lose focus and he is now talking about irrelevant matters instead of focusing on matters that need immediate attention,” he said.
