CALANGUTE: Fed up of frequent power cuts, Calangute panchayat members along with residents on Friday visited the office of the electricity department chief engineer.
“The power goes off frequently for four-five hours and it becomes unbearable because of the summer heat,” Calangute sarpanch Joseph Sequeira said.
He said they had met Chief Engineer Stephen Fernandes exactly one year ago over the electricity issues in Calangute and he had assured them that the issues would be resolved with the commissioning of the new sub-station in Calangute. However, the power supply problem has continued, he said.
“First they said the power situation would be resolved with the Arpora sub-station. Then they said once the Candolim sub-station is ready, the situation would improve. Then they said once the Calangute sub-station is ready, it will improve, but the situation has not changed,” Khobrawaddo resident Premanand Diukar said.
Fernandes said following Friday’s meeting, they have formed a joint committee with villagers which will meet every month to identify the problem areas. “Calangute is a high revenue area for the electricity department and the load is constantly increasing because of new hotels. Despite constant upgradation of the electricity infrastructure to increase power supply, it is not sufficient because the power consumption is constantly increasing in the Calangute coastal belt. By next March the new sub-station at Saligao will be ready and that will resolve the power supply issues,” he said.
He said most of the power cuts occur because of cables supplying power to the coastal belt getting cut during road widening work. Some of the transformers also get overloaded because of new connections, he said.
Villagers also urged the electricity department to give priority to domestic consumers, instead of big hotels.