PANAJI
Assuring that there would be no power tariff hike due to fresh recruitments in the department, Power Minister Nilesh Cabral has insisted that the national staff-consumer ratio does not apply to the State.
“No additional posts have been created as the staff recruitment which is being done now is within the sanctioned strength of the department,” Cabral told The Goan.
“Many officials in the electricity department have retired and hence posts have become vacant and are being filled now.”
“In some cases, posts had lapsed as they were not filled on time due to the recruitment ban by the government. Now that the ban has been lifted, the department has initiated the process of reviving these lapsed posts, which are also within the sanctioned strength limit.”
“Hence, there will be no spike in electricity tariffs due to the salary burden on fresh recruitments by the department,” said the minister.
Cabral also explained that the staff-consumer ratio is high in Goa due to geographic conditions in the State.
“In big cities like Mumbai and Pune, a small area has thousands of customers. However in Goa, houses in many areas are away from each other and therefore, more staff is required to cater to the customers. Hence, the national staff-consumer ratio cannot be applied to Goa,” explained Cabral.
