VASCO
Goa State Industries Association (GSIA) President Damodar Kochkar on Tuesday accused the State government of hiking water charges to industries with effect from April in order to give free water to the public.
“The Government has announced free water of 16m3 to public from September 1, but the industries have now received a circular from the field managers of their respective industrial estates that water tariff is increased from April to Rs 39 per m3 and to industries which are using water as raw material, it is increased to Rs 78 per m3,” said Kochkar.
“The chief minister while announcing free water to consumers said it is under ‘save water to get free water’ mission, but the intention of the government appears to be ‘free water to save votes’.”
Kochkar said the industry, which is the highest contributor to the State’s GDP, has been struggling to survive for the last 18 months of the pandemic.
“The industry made several appeals to the government to provide some hand-holding measures during these difficult times. However, the government appears to be only concerned of their vote bank leaving the industry to fend for themselves,” said Kochkar.
“With the increase in water tariff, industries will be forced to buy water from tanker suppliers or draw the water from bore wells, which will the deplete the groundwater level and cause environmental damage. We hope better sense will prevail and the government will give some reduction in water tariff to industries too,” Kochkar added.
