Blackouts are a perennial problem with the electricity department. Blaming the monsoon for all the woes that afflict it would hence be wrong
PACHU MENON
The initial wet-spell has always brought along with it the seasonal woes which have somehow ‘weathered’ the best of efforts by concerned authorities to neutralise it - for decades now.And power outages feature high on the list.
However, the manner in which the anguished public in South Goa reacted to the ‘mid-week shock’ that came by way of the prolonged periods of blackouts on consecutive days did indeed come as a surprise.
People congregating at the powerhouse in South Goa were as much in the dark as were the department personnel who were not able to give convincing answers to public queries.
A visibly upset public showing their displeasure in no uncertain terms has never come as a shocking response to the power authorities! Such scenes have continued with no visible alterations from time immemorial. So why read much into these ‘confrontations’!
It is with such an attitude that the electricity department as one of the most vital utility provider has been serving the people - matched only by the annoying indolence of the water supply department.
Both are famous for frequent disruptions and both equally lack the decency to inform the public when the supply would be restored! But for the moment let us stick to the subject in hand - the power department!
Let us for instance take the shut-down for routine maintenance works announced by the electricity department!
While the electricity department is very meticulous about switching-off power on schedule, there is never any guarantee that power will be switched-on at the time specified. A usual lag of an hour or two is to be expected always. But even after that the power supply takes quite some time to stabilize.
Blackouts are a perennial problem with the electricity department. Blaming the monsoon for all the woes that afflict it would hence be wrong.
Another area of concern has been the acute shortage of manpower the department has faced year after year. Ironically, it is observed the electricity department has more meter-readers than linesmen! The faulty recruitment preferences where the department has laid more emphasis on sourcing office staff rather than technical staff has been its undoing.
But then when political interference decides the quality - and quantity - of employment, the department cannot but continue its nondescript existence.
But how is it that year-after-year, the power department, as a provider of essential public service, is found wanting on all fronts with no visible attempts being made to rectify the anomalies!
The manner in which the department has managed to maintain a status quo over its workings right from its inception speaks a lot for the ‘powerless’ status it has been enjoying all the while!
Not that the department lacks able staff, but with politics deciding the what, who and how of its working, it does appear that a general feeling of ennui has crept in to its functioning.
Assuming charge of a department which, as a public utility provider, is renowned for its highly unstable and inconsistent services just last year, the Power Minister too has come in for flak.
The ‘streetlight policy’ planned by the Power Minister when he took charge of the department last year has been anything but encouraging.
However it needs to be said that the legacy of a ministry forever haunted by a lack of vision and the shortfall of manpower and equipment is now bequeathed to an individual who has it in him to brighten up the bleak power situation that has been haunting the state. However it must be said that the Electricity department lacks an able PRO team which could diffuse tension among the public during such trying times.
There does exist a system of ‘phone-attendants’ answering distress calls from the consumers. With linesmen intimated about the fault, power is restored within no time. But when pandemonium strikes, as it did last week, almost all these telephones appear to be kept off the hook.
The interruption in power supply from Karnataka has been blamed for the power outages of June 12th and 13th which had the entire South Goa reeling under its effect. Left in the lurch and with no assurances forthcoming from the power department officials, the public could only curse their luck, geared up to face another night of total blackness.
Sources in the department confirmed that it was a technical issue on the Karnataka-side of the feeder line that was denying power to South Goa!
With nearly 60 kilometres of the 220 KV Ambevadi-Ponda-I line through the Southern Grid from Karnataka passing through dense forests and deep valleys, and exposed to a lot of transient tripping, finding the fault was proving to be an Herculean task. Eventually, the fault was rectified and power was restored to the entire South Goa by midnight of that day. But why is the state incapable of generating its own electricity! The Power Minister, as he has been touting, just cannot envisage ‘if not a 24x7, at least a 23x7’ power scenario for Goa without overcoming this hurdle. Will the Power Minister’s idea of linking South Goa to the Maharashtra Grid for improved quality and availability of power solve the problem!
Claiming that his department was defunct, the Power Minister early this year had expressed his helplessness to bring out a white paper on its functioning. Now, with the government unveiling the white paper on power status in Goa, let us hope things will soon improve for the better!
