----------------------------------------------------------------------- Documented by Goa Desc Documentation Service & circulated by Goa Civic & Consumer Action Network (GOA CAN)<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Ph:2252660 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frequent power failures: The saga continues in Canacona -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Frequent disruption in the power supply to Canacona taluka is a common scenario throughout the year and during the monsoon, it is there to stay. But the long periods of power disruption since the last two weeks before the advent of the monsoon have annoyed the people, provoking them to vent their ire on the staff of the Canacona electricity division.
The reason as to why the people of this region have become infuriated is because on Sunday, the power went off at 11.15 pm and came back the next day at about 12 noon and after many interruptions, power supply was again disrupted at midnight on Monday and was restored on Tuesday morning.
There was no respite from the power breakdowns on Tuesday evening either as the same thing continued and was repeated on Wednesday midnight. After reeling into darkness for the whole night, power was restored only at 3 pm on Thursday and the saga of frequent interruptions was being continued at the time of going to the press.
When contacted, the operator manning the Canacona sub-station attributed it
to the fault from the Canacona feeder. When this correspondent contacted the
Cuncolim sub station, a staffer replied that there was problem in the feeder line
to Canacona that was leading to the tripping of the connection.The staffer said
he had given the LC (Load Correction) information to the Canacona sub station.
He attributed this due to the fault at Canacona side and absolved the Cuncolim
section from any blame.
Due to dismal conditions of the power supply, the people have become the
worst suffers as most of the hoteliers and residents complained that they had to
discard food items kept in the refrigerators, as they became stale due to the
non-functioning of the refrigerators. That apart, hospitals are also facing untold
miseries.
An accident victim brought to one of the hospital for an x-ray on Sunday night
had to wait for long hours waiting for the electricity to come, but after hours of
waiting was finally shifted to a hospital at Margao.
The scene at Community Health Centre was no different. The laboratory did not
function and patients wanting to carry tests were asked to come later. However,
according to a doctor on duty, vaccines stored in the coolers were not contaminated
as the coolers at the hospital has a back up time of 72 hours, if not opened.
According to Dr Sandeep Dhavlikar of Dhavlikar hospital, Canacona, the long duration in the disruption of the power supply is financially telling towards administration cost. "We have to use diesel generators to keep the equipment running and also to preserve vaccines and other medicines that require storage at controlled temperature," explained Dr Dhavalikar.
Thankfully, hospitals in Canacona are equipped with generators to keep the
operation theatres and other equipments running but medicines perish if stored in
refrigerators at home that require refrigeration. According to a source, patients take
them unmindful of the fact that they have very short shelf life without controlled
temperature.
With the coming events casting their shadows before they come, the coming
monsoon has a lot of unpleasant things in store for the people of this taluka due
to the power failures.
The electricity conductors are over 30 years old and are corroding and snap off very
frequently. Transformers at many places have outlived their lives, huge matured trees
are seen at many places along the HT lines that may uproot any time, sub-standard
insulators that puncture at a drop of water and apart from many other things, there
is a shortage of manpower.
There is one junior engineer to attend to an area of nearly 200 square kilometres,
comprising the village panchayats of Loliem, Poinguinim, Cotigao, Gaondongrem and
Shristal and to assist him are a handful of linesmen who are not provided with rubber
gloves, boots or torches while on night duty.
Since the last three years, the power minister has been claiming that a parallel line
is being drawn from Cuncolim to Canacona and though the work commenced last
year, it is going at snails pace.
Back to Canacona, the staff complain that the division is not getting proper supplies
in the form of conductors, insulators and other replacement parts.The utter neglect
and sheer apathy shown to Canacona taluka by the government is manifested by the
concern shown by insufficient staff deployment, vehicles that frequently break down
and due to poor budgetary allotment.
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HERALD 13/06/03
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