The deaths of Soundarya and her baby after stepping on a live wire on Sunday sent citizens into a frenzy with many worried about the safety of electricity infrastructure in the city. This was, however, not an isolated incident.
From 2018 until this October, a total of 70 (non-departmental) deaths have occurred owing to the snapping of conductors, data provided by the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) revealed. Apart from this, 11 non-fatal injuries (also non-departmental) have occurred in the last five years owing to the same cause.
Experts expressed concerns about the safety and maintenance of infrastructure by Bescom while also demanding accountability.
“Having technical issues does not allow you to have a crematorium on the footpath. The State is bound to protect the lives of citizens. This is not the first time this has happened, and it is totally unacceptable. What is the government and the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) doing? This is a systematic failure, and it should be addressed without blaming individuals,” said M.G. Prabhakar, former member of the advisory committee, KERC.
While Bescom officials claimed that the wire which had snapped did not switch off as it could not find ground tension on the cement footpath, experts said that this clearly highlighted the poor maintenance of infrastructure and equipment.
A senior Bescom official also stated that since the line was commissioned in 1997, the conductor might have aged.
“Typically, as soon as a wire falls, be it on trees or on electricity poles, after separating from the insulators, the charge goes off due to something called live-to-ground fault. Hence, the claimed reason for the wire still being live after falling cannot be right. Even when it falls on cement poles, it turns off. There must have been some improper maintenance or staff negligence,” said a former officer of the Electrical Inspectorate.
He added that conversion of overhead cables into underground wires and the installation of ring main units can reduce the incidence of these accidents.
Officials of KERC also expressed doubts about the reason given by Bescom. “The power supply should immediately stop when the conductor snaps. If it does not, then the fault is with Escoms or KPTCL. We are waiting for the Electrical Inspectorate to provide us with the true facts. If there is negligence of Bescom in the report, then we will act accordingly,” said P. Ravikumar, Chairman, KERC.
