THE GOAN NETWORK
MAPUSA: With the scorching summer heat at its peak, frequent unscheduled power outages during the day and especially at nights and an insensitive administration have caused residents of several parts of Bardez to lose their cool.
The sweltering heat of May and the long power cuts have pushed people to the edge.
The coastal villages of Calangute and Candolim have had the worst of the power outages in this season.
Several areas of Calangute and Candolim had no power supply for close to two hours on Tuesday night. Even on Wednesday evening, parts of Gaura-vaddo and Tivai-vaddo in Calangute went without power for hours at a stretch.
Such frequent power cuts have left locals fuming in the coastal belt with many venting their anger against power officials.
“Electricity department officials are all hand in glove. There are no sincere engineers who know their job well. Nowadays, these officials are on the pay roll of MLAs,” said Benedict D’Souza, former Parra sarpanch.
Another Parra local opined that authorities were just playing the blame game but failed to find alternative ways to resolve the problem.
“They are blaming Parra farmers for obstructing their work on the high tension line. We had suggested four optional routes which could be a win-win situation for everyone. But these officials want to have their way,” said Genevieve Fernandes, a resident of Parra.
Even the power minister and the local MLA were not spared.
“If the power minister really wanted to solve our problem then he should have at least tried to hear our suggestions on the alternate route for the high tension line when he came to meet the farmers,” Fernandes said.
A local from Calangute, Kevin D’Souza slammed the government and the local MLA for forcing the people of the village to come on the streets.
“Whether it is ODP, hill cutting, water issue, power failure…the current government has brought us on the streets. Time to throw the MLA out,” D’Souza said.
The city of Mapusa too faced power cuts early on Wednesday morning and later in the evening too for more than 45 minutes.
“A few people from Verla-Canca are refusing to permit us to erect electricity poles in their fields. How can we supply additional load to the coastal belt if we are not allowed to set up the required infrastructure,” asked Narvekar.
