VASCO
Verna Industries Association (VIA) President Pradeep Da Costa on Tuesday said while power supply issues had been resolved by Power Minister Sudin Dhavlikar, there is a need to improve power distribution and supply infrastructure in Goa.
Speaking to reporters, Da Costa said severe power shortage issues were resolved in April by Power Minister Sudin Dhavalikar, provided the industry was willing to pay extra for the power.
"In the beginning, some industry stakeholders were opposed to the idea of paying extra for power as it was the government’s responsibility to provide power supply. Somehow, GSIA President Damodar Kochkar and we managed to persuade them and everyone came on board.”
“But unfortunately, in the last 45 days, while incoming power issues have been solved but there has been a constant shutdown almost on a daily basis, sometimes 4-5 times a day and stakeholders now feel cheated because they have been charged extra," said Da Costa.
Da Costa claimed these outages have nothing to do with the incoming power but based on the quality of infrastructure of power supply and distribution.
“We are paying extra for power but the distribution infrastructure is not supporting it so the question is whether this is worthwhile. Some now feel we were better off earlier in the sense that outages were planned and we were informed about the time and duration of the outages. But now, there is suddenly a power outage and this severely affects industries,” said Da Costa.
Da Costa told reporters that the VIA had given a representation to the power secretary on improving infrastructure at Verna, just before Dhavalikar took over as power minister.
"We have three transformers at Verna with a total of 110 MVA. They are over 20 years old and running at around 80 percent capacity and God forbid, if one transformer fails, we are finished because Verna caters to Zuarinagar and Vasco as well and all of us will go down. There are no steps to get a new transformer but we have heard that the government has tendered the refurbishment of an old transformer in Tivim as a backup for Verna," said Da Costa.
"Frequent outages is costing us severely and the government has to have a very holistic outline plan for Goa considering the load that is envisaged and the current load and proper plans of load distribution.”
“These issues can be resolved. We need better quality of power and the government can also promote renewable energy like solar and hydro power and make a holistic plan to resolve the issue," Da Costa added.
