Panaji, Apr 19 (PTI) A day after Goa's industry bodies agreed to bear the cost of purchasing additional power to meet their demand, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Tuesday gave his approval for purchase of electricity from open market.

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The chief minister has given the approval to purchase 120 MW power from open market, which would be supplied to the industries, a senior official said.

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The industry bodies had on Monday written to the state government raising concerns about the “acute power shortage” in the coastal state, which had resulted in load shedding and affected operations.

The Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industries (GCCI), Goa State Industries Association (GSIA) and Goa Pharmaceuticals Manufacturers' Association (GPMA) wrote to Sawant and State Power Minister Sudin Dhavalikar expressing their concerns.

The industry associations also met Dhavalikar to discuss their issues.

Since March, industries have been facing acute power shortage due to constant load restrictions of up to 12 hours per day, imposed by the government, the letter jointly signed by chiefs of all the three associations stated.

Quoting their meeting with the power minister on Monday, the associations had said that to address the power deficit, additional electricity will have to be purchased by the state government.

“However, the rise in the traffic in the IEX market has increased the cost substantially and the government finds it difficult to bear this burden,” the letter states.

As far as the industries are concerned, due to the current restrictions on load, they have to run their units on generators at a much higher cost, they said.

This also increases pollution and has a negative impact on the environment, the association said, suggesting that the cost of purchasing additional power may be billed to all EHT and HT consumers in the state till June 30.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)