For those who think this scenario is impossible in India, must know that the above power situation does exist in South Mumbai, where power exists sans any voltage fluctuations and there is hardly any power failure. By chance if power fails, the media will cover it extensively and will not stop till a logical explanation is sought from the public power distributor Bombay Electric Supply & Transport (BEST) and the private power generator Tata Power who work in a synchronized manner to provide the BEST service to their customers.
Most residents of South Mumbai do not know how a power inverter, diesel generator or a voltage stabilizer looks like, since they literally plug and play, all their electrical equipment. As if all this is not enough Mumbai is now all set to break the monopoly of power being distributed only by the public undertaking BEST, because in the future they will be able to choose services either from Tata Power or BEST, as a go ahead signal is being given to Tata Power to lay an alternative network. Projections are that Mumbai residents might save 35% on their power bills just by bringing to an end a government monopoly and ushering in competitive pricing.
Goa unfortunately is stuck with a government monopoly has nobody to challenge them in terms of service or pricing and therefore till date Goans before finalizing the purchase of electrical equipment have to factor in an additional cost for purchase of a voltage stabilizer. If the equipment is mission critical then it has to be connected to an inverter or to a diesel generator so as to receive seamless power. Adding to this is the added effort needed for Goans that have minimalistic design homes to come up with innovative designs that will hide those bulky stabilizers, inverters and batteries.
Coming back to that 24×7 uninterrupted steady power dream, imagine a Goan politician decides to be true to his word and starts work in right earnest to realize that dream. In such a situation what happens to all those suppliers and dealers who are into the business of supplying diesel generators, inverters and stabilizers? Surely their business is threatened and if they do not have diversified portfolio of products, they run the risk of going under. Add to that imagine if these suppliers are friends of the party that is in the government, wouldn’t they exert pressure on the government to maintain status quo, thereby scuttling any move that will transform the power scenario of the state.
If the politician chooses his business friends who might have also financed part of their party election campaign, than Goans are the losers because it affects their quality of life, which has been the case thus far. If the politician bites the bullet and goes all out making the changes needed in the power sector, then the aggrieved business community might start to conspire in toppling his government tempting the politician to back off his plans or run the risk of getting replaced. A nexus between industry and politicians which conspires to keep Goans literally in the dark is never in the best interest of Goa. This is not to suggest that the above scenario in the power sector is actually happening in Goa, but is in the realm of possibility considering that it has been too long a wait for Goa to figure out how to deliver a basic necessity.
If Goan politicians are in this Catch 22 situation then really it is their own creation. Over the years instead of felicitating a free competitive business environment with minimum interference, politicians have played the role of Big Daddy favoring friendly lobbies, sometimes even defending their obsolete technologies. These lobbies also pull strings and introduce regulations and licensing through politicians that keep them in business perpetually with no pressure from new competition or introduction of new technology. A politician has to face the wrath from its citizens when the service fails, but at the same time avoids making structural changes for fear not to upset his business friends. A lose-lose situation for a politician who wants to make a genuine change.
If politicians have never bothered in sorting out the power infrastructure of Goa, than it is the fault of Goans who have allowed this morass to continue since they have made up their mind that they don’t deserve better, and are content with what they get. The Government aware that they have messed up priorities for Goans has craftily bought the silence of its citizens by innumerable dole schemes, which has made the government look like a concerned Big Brother and circumvent any rebellion for the basic services they are unable to provide in a perfect manner.
So the next time you have visitors especially the Generation Next visiting Goa, even if they happen to be your own Non Resident children or your children studying in South Mumbai and hear them grumble over the constant power failure in Goa, don’t consider those complaints as some teenage tantrums, or an arrogant Generation Next that cannot come to terms with reality. They have just experienced a basic service wherein a 24 x7 uninterrupted power is really not such a big deal and mostly taken for granted.
(Plastino D’Costa is a business consultant)
