PANAJI
A day after Power Minister Sudin Dhavalikar made a case for purchasing power from the open market to meet the demand of industries in the State, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Tuesday gave his approval and said 120 Mega Watts would be purchased from the open market.
“The file has been cleared. We will begin by purchasing 120 mw of power from the open market to meet the demand of industries in the State”, Sawant said.
Speaking to media persons on the side-lines of a function at Dhargal in Pernem, Sawant said, “maximum power requirement of the industries will be fulfilled. Power will be purchased by the government from the open market and given to industries”.
Since March this year, industries in the State have been complaining of acute power shortage due to constant load restrictions.
Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industries (GCCI), Goa State Industries Association (GSIA) and Goa Pharmaceuticals Manufacturers’ Association (GPMA) had written to Sawant and Dhavalikar expressing serious concerns over the same.
Industry leaders, have however, agreed to bear the additional cost of purchase of power as their operations have been severely affected due to the shortage.
Industry bigwigs, have however, urged the government to adopt measures such as controlling power leakage, pilferage etc to reduce the intensity of the problem and also reduce the burden on them.
With this move, around 1171 industries using the high tension line will now get uninterrupted power.
On Monday, power minister had sent a proposal to the chief minister to purchase additional power from the open market to tide over the shortfall that the industries in the State were facing.
Industry honchos had complained that the use of generators had increased the cost of production and that it was also taking a toll on the environment.
Industries had also put a proposal that additional purchase power may be billed to all EHT and HT consumers in the State till June 30, 2022.
