Do you know you are paying for the streetlights in your village?

Team Herald 

PANJIM: It’s called a levy for public lighting that consumers now have to pay each month. But the manner in which this has been done has taken the light out of people’s lives. 

It’s less than two years the State had hiked the power tariffs, the govt’s decision to levy duty on public lighting has left consumers shocked.

For power consumers this levy is an additional burden when they are already burdened with various taxes, including Income Tax. The public lighting duty is reflected in the October month bill. The Electricity Department is levying a duty of five paise per unit for domestic and agriculture categories and eight paise per unit for commercial, industrial and high-tension categories.

According to Electricity Department Superintending Engineer Rajeev Samant, the Public Lighting Act, 2021 was notified in June this year and the duty was reflected in the bills issued to consumers in August for the electricity consumed in June. As per the Act, the department will levy and collect duty from all categories of consumers and this duty will be used to create new infrastructure for public lighting.

The question that needs to be asked, “Why should the common man bear this burden when he is already paying taxes. Where does that money go?”

Herald spoke to various consumers to seek their views on the government’s latest decision to levy duty on public lighting.

“We are receiving lots of calls, SMSes and emails with regards to public lighting duty charged on power bills received by domestic consumers. We feel that this is time for consumers to check various other charges such as electricity duty and FPPCA, which they need to be informed. The Electricity Department also has responsibility to inform consumers as to what charges are collected on their bills,” Goa Civic Action and Consumer Network (GOACAN) coordinator Roland Martins told Herald.

Martins further said in the next bills, the department should either print an explanatory note on the bills or affix it to the bills explaining to consumers about the levy of public lighting duty.

He said in the next two months the GOACAN will start an exercise informing consumers about their rights and also request village panchayats to hold discussion with consumers about the public lighting duty. 

Herald also spoke to Congress chief spokesman Amarnath Panjikar, who said, “Levying public lighting duty is burdening consumers who are already reeling under inflation. The government first hiked power tariffs and later water tariffs. Will the Electricity Department be able to repair and maintain lakhs of streetlights across the State? Who will switch on and switch off streetlights is not specified. This may result in keeping streetlights on or burning during daytime and it will cause wastage of huge amount of energy consumption and also taxpayers’ money. Also if streetlights are not switched on late evening it will keep streets in darkness.”

When contacted, Parshuram Sonurlekar, an activist from Vasco said, “Levy of public lighting duty is additional burden on consumers. The Electricity Department should instead install solar panels on street poles and save energy.” 

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THE CHARGES

The Electricity Department is levying a duty of five paise per unit for domestic and low tension agriculture and allied activities and eight paise per unit for commercial, industrial and high-tension categories. GOACAN says in the next bills, power dept should either print an explanatory note on the bills or affix it to the bills explaining to consumers about the levy of public lighting duty; to start an exercise informing consumers about their rights in the next two months.