Goans don’t worry! You will get power at an older rate

Panaji, April 3: In a tug of war between Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane and Joint electricity regulatory commission (JERC) has made the Minister Rane to win as the hike in power tariff has been withdrawn from the state.

Following criticism from all quarters, the State government on Monday decided to withdraw the power tariff hike for small domestic consumers. A decision to this effect was taken at a high-level committee meeting chaired by Power Minister Pandurang Madkaikar which was attended by Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Krishnamurthy and Finance Secretary Daulat Hawaldar. 

Addressing a press conference after the meeting, Madkaikar said the meeting deliberated on the concerns raised by the people. “As per the decision the tariff hike stands withdrawn for domestic consumers who are consuming up to 0-100 and 100-200 units per month,” he said.

He added that domestic consumers using more than 200 units will face a nominal hike of 0.25 paise per unit. “Presently, the unit rate for consumers above 200 is Rs 2.40/unit which has now been increased to Rs 2.65,” he said.

Madkaikar said that Monday’s meeting decided to increase the government subsidy. “We decided that subsidy by the government will have to be increased under Section 65. The total additional subsidy will be Rs 7 to 10 cr annually,” he said, adding that the subsidy amount is in addition to Rs 372 cr given by the State annually.

Madkaikar said the government will inform the JERC tomorrow and the new rates will be notified. “There is no need to file additional review,” he said.

On the other side, Health Minister Vishwajit Rane had warned to hold a ‘midnight protest march’ with the people from Sattari taluka against the power tariff hike, which is due to come into force from April 1.