MARGAO
Strongly batting for the Tamnar power project, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday said some people even went to the Supreme Court to stall the power project without realising that the project was necessary to tone up the power infrastructure to provide uninterrupted power supply to the people of Goa.
The Chief Minister further said the government is committed to give a big boost to the generation of solar power to ensure zero carbon emission by 2040.
Speaking after launching the Rs 65 crore underground power cabling project in the villages of Majorda and Betalbatim on Wednesday, the Chief Minister said implementation of the Tamnar project has been delayed by a year and half just because some people went to the Supreme Court. “Some people opposed the Tamnar project in a big way by going to the Supreme Court. Tamnar project was proposed to bring power from Karnataka. We need Tamnar project to bring the power. Around 80 per cent of the project is completed and hardly 20 per cent work needs to be done,” he said.
He added: “But, some people went to the Supreme Court without realising that this project is for the people of Goa and not for the industries.
Without the power infrastructure, we will go back to the age of lanterns and kandils. People should think twice before opposing developmental projects.”
Saying that the project is behind schedule by one year and half, the Chief Minister said, “The project entails cutting of trees, but the government has drawn up a plan to plant the trees. We have to come out of the mindset and support development.”
Saying the government is committed to give a big push to solar energy, Sawant said Goa will achieve zero carbon emission by 2040 instead of 2050. “We will sign power purchase agreement for integrated power, including solar, wind and hydro. The government has come out with a new scheme for people to set up solar power atop roof tops with refund of the investment within three years,” he said.
Power Minister Ramkrishna Dhavalikar, in his address, said the government is giving a major push to the power infrastructure across the State. He said the Centre has promised to provide Rs 1,000 crore for the power infrastructure.
Local Nuvem MLA Aleixo Sequeira thanked the government for sanctioning the underground power cabling in the villages of Majorda and Betalbatim, which will fulfill the promise made to the people during the Assembly election. He, however, made a fervent plea to the villagers of Majorda and Betalbatim to exercise patience during the cable laying work since the work would involve digging of roads to lay the cable.
The underground cabling project at Majorda village includes laying of 546 kms of LT cable, installation of 30 power transformer centres, around 50 feeder pillars, etc.
