Frequent power failure has been a bane to the residents andthe business houses in Canacona.
Among the business class the worst sufferers are thebusiness establishments at the Shristal Industrial Estate and the hotels in thecoastal areas.
For 15,000 power consumers in the taluka constant power cutshave come at a price. Food stuff stored in refrigerators gets spoiled, someresidents complained. The student community too faced the brunt.
Quite often electricity department resorts to power cutsevery half an hour during the day, said a source in the industrial estate.
The old and crumbling infrastructure and paucity of staffare the main culprits for the worse power scenario in the taluka.
“The overhead power lines have not been replaced for thelast five decades (since 1972). Only at a few places it has been replacedbecause of emergency,” said Ashok Padvalkar, Assistant Engineer of ElectricityDepartment in Canacona.
One of the reasons for the power failure is because thetaluka does not have underground cabling, except at a stretch of around 8 km offorest area in Karmalghat, the engineer disclosed.
“In an inclement weather, especially when it is windy, treebranches often brush against a charged power line, which results in de-phasingof the line, resulting in blackouts.” said Vinayak Mhalsekar, AssistantEngineer in the department.
He further informed that out of the 24 km distance, fromCuncolim to Canacona, a distance of only 8 km has underground cabling. “If the remaining 16 km stretch can also haveunderground cabling, most of the power woes will be solved,” he added.
Padwalkar stressed on the need of underground cabling inCanacona city and coastal areas of Palolem, Patnem and Rajbhag, which havecommercial businesses.
“Around fifteen poles from Chaudi to Rajbhag road are almostcorroded and there is every possibility of them collapsing. They need to bereplaced on top priority before an accident takes place,” said Mahadev Desai,councilor of Pansulem ward.
