The power debate 2.0 at Menezes Braganza hall in Panaji between Goa Power Minister Nilesh Cabral and Delhi Aam Aadmi Party Power Minister Satyendar Jain on Monday remained inconclusive
Question: What is the Delhi model v/s Goa model? When you talk about this model, what are you proposing for Goa? Why and how have you come to this figure of 300 units?
Satyendar Jain: Delhi model is 24x7 uninterrupted electricity. For the past five years, Delhi’s electricity supply is for 24 hours. There’s no power cut. The domestic consumers get free electricity for 200 units and half rate is charged for 400 units. We spend the public money on the public. This is the Delhi model for electricity.
The Goa model is more power cuts and less electricity. The netas, not public, get free electricity. The money that should ideally be spent on the public, is spent on buying the MLAs. Our model for Goa will be totally different. In Goa, we will be providing free electricity up to 300 units to all domestic consumers. In Delhi we give 200 units free and charge fifty percent for 400 units, so it comes to 300 units free electricity. After discussing with the people of Goa, we arrived at this figure of 300 units, as they said 200, 400 are confusing figures. Above 300 units, the rates will be the same, unchanged. And for Goa, we promise that for the next five years, for any slab, the electricity prices will not be hiked. 24 x 7 electricity, forget the cuts, no inverters and generators. We guarantee that the inverters and generators’ shops will be shut in Goa. The farmers will get free electricity.
Nilesh Cabral: He (Satyendar Jain) spoke on a model that he intends to give. They (AAP government in Delhi) have changed the models in Delhi two-three times. So, we don’t know how many times they will change their model here (in Goa). Originally, they gave something and then they shifted to something else. If we take a stock of what is existing in Goa and what’s there in Delhi “ when a person consumes 80 units in Goa, he pays Rs 137, in Delhi it’s free. In Delhi 120 units are free as per their scheme, in Goa it costs Rs 207. But someone who is consuming 201 units in Delhi, has to pay Rs 195, in Goa he has to pay Rs 375. When it comes to 300 units, in Delhi the amount the consumer has to pay as total charges with subsidy comes to Rs 1521, minus the subsidy of Rs 721. In Goa, the bill is only Rs 640. In Delhi the bill for 400 units is Rs 2052 and after deducting the subsidy amount the consumer still must pay Rs 1252, whereas in Goa the bill is Rs 985. So, this is the clear picture of the Delhi model.
In Goa nobody is given free electricity. Everybody has to pay their own electrical bills. Even being a power minister, I pay my own bill. The electrical department engineers staying in government
quarters, also have to pay their electricity bills.
If we speak about 24x7 uninterrupted power supply, our (Goa’s) geographical area is two times more than that of Delhi’s. We are trying to provide a 24x7 electricity supply and we will achieve that. It is in the rainy season that the interruptions start. We don’t have a generating station in Goa. We have to bring power from places like Chhattisgarh or Himachal Pradesh which are far away, whereas in Delhi they have two or three GENCOs who produce power. If their (AAP) idea is to bring a thermal power station here (in Goa) I have no comments on that. Their idea may be to bring a thermal power station here to produce their own electricity in Goa. We are working on offering 24x7 electricity in Goa.
Question: Is it possible to give free electricity to Goa? And do you intend to give uninterrupted electricity in Goa?
Nilesh Cabral: Yes, we are trying to give uninterrupted electricity in Goa. There are two grids. A single grid is not enough to give 24 hours electricity to Goa. We have issues and we are working on that. Ultimately, there are two types of interruptions “ one is at the distribution site and the other from the incoming side. It will take some time as the distance is far. But from the distribution site, we have already started working on that.
But when it comes to giving free electricity to the public, we will not be able to do that.
