PANJIM: The much-hyped ‘Power Debate’ between the Power Ministers of Goa Nilesh Cabral and Delhi Satyendar Jain, turned out to be a lacklustre one with punch lines being thrown at each other as opposed to dissecting the electricity model in both the States.
Held at the Institute Menezes Braganza Hall, here, the debate revolved around the promises made by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of providing free electricity up to 300 units, uninterrupted power supply and other incentives such as those for the farmers and consumers with disputed power dues.
However, the mainstay of the debate were barbs from Jain that the BJP government is interested more in spending money to purchase MLAs and not use that money to provide better and cheaper electricity, something Cabral repeatedly objected to as he felt Jain was using such tactics to deviate from the topic of the debate and question posed to him.
The biggest highlight was Jain making a promise that AAP’s Power Minister, if they form the next government, would resign in two years time if AAP’s promise of providing uninterrupted power supply is not met.
Earlier, Cabral pointed out that Goa has a far smaller tariff than that of Delhi and that the AAP-led government not only has crores of rupees in debt in the power sector but also gets a grant directly from the Centre. His argument was based on the fact that ‘nothing is free’ and that the promised subsidies come at a cost which will be passed on as an additional burden to the citizens.
He further argued that the State government has been providing financial assistance to the public via other welfare schemes and at the same time managing its finances adequately without falling into a debt trap.
The entire crux of Jain’s argument was that the priority of the government should be to give free power to the citizens and that there was nothing wrong in how the Delhi government was managing to do this as ultimately, it was the public that was getting the benefit.
He spoke about how so many Delhi residents get zero electricity bills as compared to the costly bills Goans residents receive. Jain also predicted that 87 per cent of consumers in Goa will get zero bills and gave the example of Cabral’s own neighbours in his constituency of Curchorem who have said that they consume less than 300 units a month.
When Cabral broke down the profile of consumers in Goa and said that 59 per cent are Low Tension Domestic Consumers (LTDC) that consumes less than 400 units of power, Jain questioned as to what is stopping the State government from applying the model of Delhi to give free electricity to such consumers.
While Cabral detailed as to why such a model is not feasible in the long run and that the BJP State government has been providing subsidised power to the citizens, he questioned as to how AAP plans to implement the same and 24/7 electricity in Goa given the State’s topography and other infrastructure issues.
Jain did not elaborate about what their infrastructure plans are to achieve their promises but said it comes down to efficient management of power that the State receives. He questioned why the BJP government having been in power earlier too has not been able to provide continuous power supply.
Cabral said the government plans to solve power fluctuation related issues through underground cabling but Jain asked him why he had not implemented the same as yet instead of just talking about.
Cabral reiterated that Jain was not able to speak specifically about his plans and shared a copy of a High Court judgement that asked the Delhi government to implement another promise of paying rent to poor tenants.
The one-hour-long debate saw the two ministers exchanging plenty of accusations with the two also making it a point to correct what they felt were false allegations. While Cabral praised Goa’s initiatives like the solar rooftop policy, Jain highlighted the quality of power offered in Delhi. Decisions and measures taken by their respective governments to help the citizens in other sectors were also mentioned by the two ministers.
In the end, Jain said that the Delhi government spends Rs 30,000 per Delhites while the Pramod Sawant led Goa government spends Rs 1,40,000 per Goan but yet the common man is suffering. Cabral on the other hand showed documentary evidence to show how the Delhi government was only painting a rosy picture while in reality it was suffering from huge financial stress.
