The residents of Margao, Benaulim and Navelim constituencies in Salcete taluka have been complaining to no avail to the power department to address the power outages that have increased in the last month.
The situation has only worsened in the first week of November and the public had to deal with these inconveniences through All Saints Day and All Souls Day. Children are having a tough time as they are preparing and giving exams at their schools and colleges.
It is ironic that residents who live next to the Aquem power house itself have been forced to bear the brunt of the power outages.
“The electricity today has failed 16 times in Aquem area, sometimes even thrice in a minute. The engineers at the Aquem power department feign ignorance,” said Cedric Da Costa, a resident.
There have been frequent power outages in the rest of Margao that last for over half an hour and only return for a few minutes before recurring. The worst affected are the commuters at the KTC bus stand in Margao that is in pitch darkness at night raising security and safety concerns for commuters, especially women and children.
While issues of power outages have been raised at several gram sabhas across Salcete and there have been instances where the power department officials have been gheraoed by residents, there was widespread anger in the constituencies of Navelim and Benaulim when residents were forced to miss the FC Goa matches due to power outages.
What made matters worse was that this has happened for three matches so far and residents have complained that they had reached home especially for the match. Electricity department officials however, stated that there was a case of overloading.
In the last month, they stated that a power shut down had been arranged at the sub-station Xeldem in South Goa which is why there were power outages across Salcete.
“We usually have been facing power issues in the evening in particular. Sometimes the power returns only for a minute and then there is no power for long hours at a stretch and this only adds to the frustration,” said Manuel Fernandes from Colva.
“There have been situations where we have had no power for as long as 4 hours at a stretch and this makes daily routine work very difficult. I had a wedding to attend and I could not iron my shirt and had to go to my cousin’s house to do that,” added Ignatius Caero from Benaulim.
When Navelim locals questioned the power department over the issue, they were told that the problem was from where the power was coming from indicating that the problem was outside Goa and out of their hands and that the power department was looking into the issue.
