Goa power minister has paralysed industrial sector: Congress

Panaji, Aug 16 (PTI) Congress in Goa today warned offiling a case against state Power Minister Milind Naik beforeLokayukta for "inordinate delays" in granting load approvalsfor the industrial sector and crucial government-run projects. "The act of (state) Power Minister Milind Naik todelay load approval for the industrial sector and somegovernment projects for more than a year amounts to violationof Joint Electricity Regulation Commission guidelines," GoaCongress spokesman Sunil Kawathankar told reporters today. Naik, in the recently-concluded session of the StateLegislative Assembly, had admitted that nod to electricityload approval for crucial projects, like multi-level carparking in Panaji and Opa Water Treatment plant, were stillpending before the electricity department since 2014. Kawathankar today said that the party will filepetition before Lokayukta against the minister. "The entire industrial sector is paralysed by PowerMinister, who is not approving projects cleared by theInvestment Promotion Board chaired by Chief Minister," healleged. The spokesman warned that Chief Electricity Engineerand other officials of electricity department will also becharged for corruption. He pointed out that as per JERC norms, an applicationfor load approval has to be either approved or rejected withinthree days. "However, here, the applications have been pendingfor years," he alleged. PTI RPS NP RGBAS