<power supply to the airport is playing truant forthe past three days>[GT report]
Some more scraps of information have become available from a report headlined "Officials warn of flight diversions" in today's HERALD (H). Supplementing this with some data from the Airport Director's presentation (ADP) and a report of GCCI on Goa's infrastructure (GCCI), (as indicated by the respective abbreviations), the following picture emerges: The power is dispatched from the Extra High Voltage (EHV) station at Ponda and is distributed by a 33KVA/1 MW substation at the airport (ADP; H). The airport has a 720 T aircon plant. It has DVOR/DME navaids (ADP). There is a back up generator which runs for 3 or 4 hours befoere refueling (H). The A/C plant is probably shut down during the operation of the back up genset. The situation was exacerbated by the high ambient temps of late. The 33KV supply is subject to up to 20% low voltage especially during peak hours besides the problem of outright outages(GCCI; H). Airport officials now complain that international airports such as Dabolim are supposed to have a dedicated feeder line which ensures quality and reliability (H). An array of crucial devices and services depends on electricity. Runway lights, navigation systems, ATC operations, airline counter operations, etc , with aircon being the last but by no means least of them (H). According to the HERALD report, electricity problems have been prevalent for 8 days at the airport. This compares with 3 days mentioned by GT. Besides, the generally rickety electricity system of Goa must be taking its toll in a highly bureaucratic airport/airbase set-up. Surprisingly, neither ADP nor GCCI highlight the unsatisfactory nature of the airport's electricity supply and operation. It took a convergence of events affecting international pasengers to throw the spotlight on this unacceptable situation. It remains to be seen if AAI has the courage to actually declare a shut down until things are sorted out permanently on a war footing. This is a prime example of the chaltha hai mentality we find everywhere in the country.
