Baripada: Even though the electrocution of 12 people in Ganjam district shook the state after the bus they were travelling in came in contact with sagging live wire, the government is yet to learn its lesson. A similar tragedy is waiting to happen in Mayurbhanj district, many people have said.
NESCO, the discom in Mayurbhanj district, is yet to wake up to the fact that the town is a sitting duck for such a mishap given presence of open transformers nearly everywhere.
The department is yet to take steps either to cover open transformers with boundary walls or raise barbed-wire fences around it. Nothing has been done to remove dangling live wires posing threat to commuters.
There is an open transformer near Bhanjapur railway station. The locality being always crowded, the possibility of a mishap can never be ruled out. Such open transformers can be seen at many places–Station Bazaar, near Kamala Nehru Girls’ High School in ward no-16, near Ostia square and near Satoshi Maa temple, to name just a few.
An electric wire has been lying in a dangling state over Chipatostia bridge for many days now. Yet, every day vehicles are plying on the bridge, exposing themselves to danger. Similarly, an electric wire has been lying at a height below the permissible one on a road near Bhanjpur Powel School. Everyday vehicles are plying on this stretch and hundreds of students also use this road to come to the school. Here too an electrocution mishap is lurking at the commuters.
Local residents alleged that the electricity department took no time to snap the connection if a consumer falls behind in paying his dues. Why the department is not showing such promptness in maintaining the electrical equipment, they asked.
“At times its own employees are also found working without safety equipment,” they alleged. When asked, Baripada NESCO superintending engineer Kshirod Chandra Behera said they have already identified 3500 spots where either the wire is found in a dangling state or a transformer in an open state. “Very soon steps will be taken to fence the open transformers and raise the dangling wires up. Similarly, 2300 consumers’ power connections were snapped between February 16 and 29. And we have so far been able to collect outstanding bills to the tune of over Rs 2crore,” he informed.