PANJIM: The Opposition parties put up a show of unity at the public hearing conducted by the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) for revision of power tariff in the State.
Congress, Goa Forward Party (GFP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) representatives, who attended the hearing, opposed the proposed power tariff hike by the Department.
Questioning the manner in which the public hearing was conducted, they criticised the incompetence and inefficiency of the Department.
Leader of the Opposition Yuri Alemao, said, “The Electricity Department had proposed that there would be no hike in power tariff for three years till 2025. The department has failed to show the details and answer the questions that the public needs to know. There is no detailed mention of power losses and power thefts. The government can afford this six per cent hike, absorb the same, subsidise and incentivise the electricity to the people.”
Alemao recalled that Goa’s contribution to solar energy was supposed to be over 300 gigawatts. Goa has failed miserably on that front, he said.
“Stop taxing common man instead of providing relief to them,” he demanded.
Durgadas Kamat of GFP said, “In January 2022, the hike was approved, but the government froze it because of elections. For the present hike, the justification given is because of the revenue gap. Have the T&D losses been investigated upon? JERC has to compel the department to reduce the power charges.”
Strongly objecting to the proposed domestic power tariff hike, Benaulim MLA Capt Venzy Viegas, said, “A public hearing at such a short notice and in a haphazard manner is wrong. We oppose this hearing, which is being conducted during working hours. This destroys the purpose of hearing as the common man cannot attend it,” he said.
“The job losses and inflation are high and the hike is proposed when inflation is high. This hike is not going to help the department. In addition to that, we don’t see any investment in renewable energy,” Viegas said.
The Electricity Department is guilty of poor financial reporting, unless every rupee spent, in capital expenditure or otherwise is put through a double-entry accounting process, the department has no moral authority to propose a tariff hike for any category of consumers, he added.
