TUESDAY, MAY 07, 2024
Team Herald
PANJIM: A long 60 years after liberation the village of Tiracol will soon receive power supply from Goa. Since liberation, the village, known for the Portuguese era fort, has been fed electricity from neighbouring Redi village of Maharashtra.
Tiracol, a ward of the Keri panchayat in Pernem taluka has about 80 to 100 houses and a population of about 350 people.
Power Minister Nilesh Cabral took the initiative to provide electricity from Goa and decided to lay an underwater cable from Keri to Tiracol at an estimated cost of Rs five crore. The cost may be negligible, but the work is significant as Tiracol, a part of Keri Panchayat will finally be fed electricity from Goa, Cabral said.
The work of laying the underwater cable has started and it will be completed within the next few months, Cabral said, adding that despite being a part of Goa, Tiracol was not receiving electricity from Goa and depended on electricity from Maharashtra.
Tiracol ward panchayat member Agnelo Godinho said it was long-pending demand of the villagers to have electricity from Goa since electricity supplied from Maharashtra was mostly erratic.
“I have been pursuing the villagers demand for electricity supply from Goa since I was elected panchayat member in the by-election two years ago. In August this year Chief Minister Pramod Sawant laid the foundation stone for the work of laying underwater cable from Keri to Tiracol. During the inauguration I told the Chief Minister about the hardships faced by the Tiracol people particularly students due to irregular power supply from Maharashtra,” Godinho said, adding that water supply is also from Maharashtra and telephone lines too come from there.
Godinho further said that four days ago the contractor and the Electricity Department engineers visited Tiracol and surveyed the area. The team assured him that the work of laying the power cable will be completed and commissioned by February next year.
“They (contractor and engineers) have assured me that the work at Tiracol side will start within a week and will be completed by February next year. I hope they will complete the work and commission the power lines before the ensuing Assembly elections,” Godinho said.
Though Tiracol is connected by a road from Maharashtra the mode of entry is the ferryboat from Keri. The total area of Tiracol is two square kilometres.
