Under pressure, Goa government soft-pedals power tariff hike

Under pressure from the opposition as well as members of the cabinet who opposed a proposed hike in domestic power consumption tariff, the Goa government on Monday said it will put off the hike for consumers utilising less than 200 units of electricity.

Power Minister Pandurang Madkaikar told journalists: "In view of the opinions put forward by the opposition and our own cabinet ministers, it has been decided to not hike the tariff for those who consume less than 200 units of power."

The hike will however apply to those who consume more than 200 units.

The minister also said that the hike had not been proposed by the state government, but was suggested by the Joint Electricity Regularity Commission in its report, submitted to the government a few weeks back.

"The government has resolved to subsidise domestic power consumption by making a budgetary allocation towards it," Madkaikar said, adding that the annual budgetary allocation towards the Power department for subsidising of domestic electricity consumption was more than Rs 300 crore.

On Monday, the Congress also joined the opposition against the proposed hike, claiming that the Rs 5 plus increase for consumption of one unit was unfair.

"This will set a dangerous precedent, where inefficiency of the department is passed on to the consumers. This hike has to be withdrawn," state Congress President Shantaram Naik said.

On Saturday, Health Minister Vishwajit Rane had threatened to go on a protest while condemning his government's decision to hike domestic power tariff.

--IANS

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