the goan I network
MARGAO
Ministers and MLAs from South Goa on Tuesday flooded Power Minister Pandurang Madkaikar with a host of complaints as the Minister initiated an interaction with the elected representatives to ascertain their requirements in their respective constituencies ahead of the monsoons.
Most of the MLAs expressed their concern over the failure by the agency to maintain the LED lights, pointing out that many lights remain defunct for want of maintenance. There were MLAs like
Wilfred D’Sa (Nuvem) and Isidore Fernandes (Canacona), who demanded to know why there’s no LED effect till date in their constituencies.
TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai, Margao MLA Digambar Kamat, Navelim MLA Luizinho Faleiro, Churchill Alemao, Nilesh Cabral and Clafacio Dias made a strong plea to the Power Minister to put in place a system for the upkeep and maintenance of the LED lights, complaining that there’s neither the contractor nor the department around to repair the lights.
The department was caught napping when Sardesai and Kamat pointed out that there’s no fault finding machine with the department to detect underground faults during the monsoon. Benaulim MLA Churchill Alemao demanded a sub station in the tourist village of Colva to stabilize the voltage fluctuations and uninterrupted power supply to the village. He also pointed out that high masts installed by the tourism department are lying defunct while demanding that only the power department should be authorised to look after public illumination.
Both Luizinho Faleiro and Velim MLA Filipe Neri Rodrigues pointed how the consumers in their constituencies had to bear the brunt of power outages during the Holy Week, while demanding strengthening of the
power infrastructure.
Power Minister assures of action
After giving a patient hearing to the grievances of the MLAs, Power Minister Madkaikar said that the department has had meetings with the LED contractor on the maintenance aspect, saying that things will fall in place after the lights are installed across the state by May-end. He said the department would not like to interfere with the repairs and maintenance of the LED lights since the entire exercise is being carried out by a private agency.
As part of pre-monsoon works, the Power Minister promised to provide 50 electric poles for each of the MLAs, besides conductors to take care of their requirements on a temporary basis. When Sanguem MLA Prasad Gaonkar drew attention of the Minister to the shortage of linesmen in the rural areas, Madkaikar directed his office to ensure that 50 per cent of the 380 contract linesmen are made to work in the rural areas.
Referring to the demand of the legislators for underground cabling, the Minister said the department would soon erect around 1,000 km of aerial bunch cables across the state. He announced that 50 JEs will be recruited in the next two months and assured that panchayats will not be forced to bear cost of poles and conductors for street illumination.
“We are trying our best to live up to the expectations of the people. This is the first time we have started this exercise with the MLAs keeping aside political differences,” he later told the media. Madkaikar said he and PWD Minister Sudin Dhavalikar would work in tandem so that poles still standing on expanded roads are removed immediately.
MLAs Babu Kavlekar, Alina Saldanha, Prasad Gaonkar, Deepak Pawaskar and others also raised a host of issues concerning their constituencies.
