By IANS,
Panaji : A leading trade body here Tuesday demanded a roll back on the proposed power tariff increase by the Goa government as it would hit the industry hard.
In his budget speech in March, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had announced a hike in both domestic as well as commercial power tariff.
Charging the political leaders for the mess in the state power sector, president of the Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), Manguirish Pai Raikar said the Goa government should recover revenue lost by the power department from politicians responsible for the slack functioning of the department.
Raikar strongly opposed the hike in commercial power tariffs and said the hiking of the commercial power tariff by 12 paise per unit would hit the industry hard.
“The recovery should be done from politicians who were in charge for the department. Hikes like these hit … hard,” he said.
“The power scenario in the last few years was very bad. There were no spares. The last government (Congress-led coalition government) was responsible for not buying spares in time, which resulted in constant breakdowns and losses for the department,” Raikar said.
Congress leader Aleixo Sequeira was the power minister in the erstwhile Digambar Kamat-led coalition government.
While domestic tariff was increased from 18 paise to 20 paise on usage above 250 units of power, commercial users of power could have to pay 70 paise per unit instead of 58 paise now.
According to Parrikar, the government aims to mop up Rs.100 crore-plus in revenue from the increase.
“We have written to the joint electricity regulatory committee about the hike. On a parallel basis, we will also be taking this matter up with the Goa government,” Raikar said.