This does appear to be a political battle that will have no winners, but there will be losers, and the losers will be the people who are not involved in the fight. First, the Electricity Department cut off the power supply to the Panjim market due to non-payment of dues amounting to approximately Rs 5 crore. Then the department threatened to cut power to the Opa water treatment plant for non-payment of dues. In the first case the Chief Minister had to intervene and direct the department to restore the power to the market. In the second instance the PWD Minister said that they were being over billed.
The Power Minister’s argument that all consumers should pay and there can be no favour shown to any particular consumer of electricity is valid. But there are other issues involved here that also need to be looked into before any decision to cut the supply of power is taken. If power supply is cut to a water treatment plant, won’t it disrupt the supply of water to all the areas which get water from this plant? What sort of a government is this, where one department makes a threat to another? This does not portray a seamless working of a cabinet, where ministers discuss to find solutions. This instead is creating problems, that the Chief Minister is required to step in to solve.
For the Power Minister this snaping of power supply may be a manner in which to make a point that everybody has to pay. Fair enough, but should the people have to bear the brunt? Isn’t there another manner in which the same point can be made? Couldn’t the government have shown a little sensitivity in the matter knowing that cutting the power supply to the market would affect the vendors and the people who shop at the market, more than it would the CCP? This is not to take the blame away from the CCP for defaulting in the payment. It has to own up and admit that it erred.
In the matter of payments, it is not as if government departments make actual cash transactions with each other. Most of the payments, as pointed out by the Power Minister, are through book adjustments and diversion of grant in aid. Surely, some book entries do not call for such drastic measures as that which the Electricity Department has proposed of cutting power supply to public utilities. Being strict in recovering dues is goon, but can the department and its minister also be strict in ensuring the continuous supply of power to the consumers?
There is also the matter of fines. The CCP market electricity bill includes interest amounting to Rs 2.5 crore. This money, being paid by one government department to another comes from the tax payer. So for the fault of the department or municipality that has not paid the bills in time, the tax payer who has paid his dues on time is being penalised. CCP is now asking that the interest be waived. The people would, however, like to know the reason for the delay in paying the bill, and if it was negligence, then shouldn’t the interest be recovered from the officer who is responsible for the delay? Some accountability has to be brought about in governance and in administration.
In this, there was one set of directions that was welcome, which was to disconnect water and power lines to commercial establishments and residences that are polluting the River Sal. Yes, those who are polluting have to be made to pay. Can this become a practice where the ‘polluter pays principle’ is extended in the form of a penalty by cutting power and water lines?
