the goan I network
PERNEM
Maharashtra electricity department officials have now threatened to disconnect power supply to the village if the bill is not cleared.
Although Tiracol is a part of Goa, the village receives power supply from Maharashtra on account of its geographic location, which is on the Maharashtra side of the Tiracol river.
There is a power shut down in Sindhudurg district every Monday and it also applies to Tiracol village.
Goa receives electricity from Maharashtra at the rate of Rs 1.5 per unit but the bill received from Mumbai showed a rate of Rs 12.5 per unit for the last five years.
When contacted, an officer from the Agarwada sub-divisional office claimed that the bill levied on them was faulty. “We tried to contact the official concerned in Maharashtra, but we were informed that he had proceeded to Mumbai on official work,” the officer said.
Taking note of the unusually his bill cum notice, Mandrem MLA Dayanand Sopte along with a group of villagers met the electricity department official in this connection. “Since the Tiracol is separated by a river, it is difficult to lay a power line to Tiracol and hence, the Maharashtra government was requested to supply power to Tiracol village,” said Sopte.
“I have instructed the officer concerned of our electricity department to look into the matter and resolve the problem.”
“It was initially planned to erect two towers for an electricity line within two years and to replace the 100 KV transformer with a 400 KV transformer,” informed Sopte. “Later, it was decided to construct the Tiracol bridge and provide power supply via the bridge. But since the construction of this bridge is pending, the issue of supplying electricity to Tiracol from Goa has been stalled,” Sopte added.
