SHWETA KAMAT
PANJIM: The 5000 households in interior Goa that have no electricity connections could see their houses lighting up in the not too distant future. On lines with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of electricity connections with 24×7 power for all by 2019, the government has prepared a road map to take electricity to these households.
The State intends to introduce solar power and wind mills to take electricity to houses located in interior forest cum tribal areas, bunched conductors in village areas, new power sub-stations, transformers and underground cabling in major cities and coastal areas. A proposal worth Rs 1200 crore has been forwarded to the Union Power Ministry seeking funds.
Under the ‘24×7 Power for All’ project, the prime minister seeks that by 2019 all domestic consumers in the country should have electricity connections. In the first phase the Union Ministry signed a joint initiative document with Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh, while in the second phase, Goa, Uttarakhand and Meghalaya signed it.
“These states through a joint initiative will make way for a slew of technical and commercial reforms ranging from more power procurement, strengthening the transmission and distribution (T&D) and regular tariff hikes,” said Neelkanta Reddy, superintendent engineer planning and nodal officer for 24×7 Power for All project in Goa.
Reddy said that under supervision of Central Electricity Authority (CEA), the nodal agency for implementation of the project across the country, Goa has prepared a road map for improving its power procurement, transmission and distribution. “Goa has already offered 24×7 power supply to its consumers. Apart from breakdown or other failures there is uninterrupted power supply,” he said.
He said there are currently 5000 households without access to electricity, located in the interior forest areas. “We have around 5.5 lakh consumers which include 1.5 lakh domestic consumers. We have 100 percent power connection in villages. In forest areas government intends to introduce solar mill or windmill system for providing power supply,” he said.
Reddy said the government has proposed introduction of bunched conductors in villages at an estimated cost of Rs 900 crore, while another Rs 300 crore will be required for underground cabling.
The Centre is likely to provide budgetary support from its flagship schemes – Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana and Integrated Power Development Scheme. In turn, the State will have to regularly hike tariff to be financially viable to take up future reforms.
