BY A GT REPORTER
PANJIM: Power Minister Aleixo Sequeira yesterday told the Goa Legislative Assembly that though in-principle approval had been granted to the Sancoale-based independent power producer - M/s Reliance Infrastructure Limited - to double its capacity, it had no financial implications on the government.
There is no commitment to purchase the additional power and the department has even proposed that the 16 MW currently purchased, be discontinued.
Sequeira was replying to the discussion on the Demands for Grants for Power, Science, Technology and Environment and Printing and Stationery.
As per the original power purchase agreement, the government was purchasing 32 MW of power which gradually reduced to 16 MW after the agreement was modified and the company allowed to increase its capacity by another 10 MW a few years ago.
No subsidy to guzzlers
The ghost of the mid-1990s power subsidy scam returned in the House yesterday when Sequeira said that no case was pending against Deputy Speaker, Mauvin Godinho, and that not a single paisa was released as subsidy to any power guzzler, from 2001 till date.
He said, attempts were on to recover Rs 105-crore from the power guzzlers, who he added, had approached the Surepme Court. If required, the government will engage the best of lawyers and ensure the arrears are recovered, he said.
Godinho was the power minister when the scandal broke out after current Opposition Leader, Manohar Parrikar exposed that the Power Ministry had restored the subsidy scheme by a notification without cabinet sanction. Parrikar had also lodged an FIR in this connection.
Linking sub-stations
Sequeira said, plans were afoot to inter-connect all power sub-stations with underground cabling to reduce power interruptions by 20 per cent.
The Minister admitted that the department was not performing well on the billing front and one reason for this was that the 400-odd meter readers, mostly women, were reluctant to go on the field and in houses to record the meter readings.
To overcome these problems, spot billing, a pilot project is being launched in his Loutolim constituency, he said, adding that the earlier exercise in some parts of Panjim city failed after the contractor abandoned the work. Also, the drop box facility to pay bills by cheques in Panjim and Margao would be extended to other areas soon, he added.
He said, for the ensuing Ganesh Chaturthi festival, new street light fixtures with improved quality of spares would be alloted latest by August 7.
He said, the electricity department was able to achieve and surpass revenue targets due to various factors and achieved revenue of Rs 987 crore during 2008-09.
Earlier, the opposition members who had tabled their cut motions, censured the power department on several fronts, including failure to deal with power shortage at peak load, frequent power failures thereby causing huge loss to industry, disruption of water supply and inconvenience to consumers.
