 Mohammad Sarfaraz
Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, Sept 15: Despite spending hundreds of crores on Power Development Department, there are scores of linemen or labourers of the PDD who have lost their lives due to electric shocks and the department has not learnt any lessons on how to save their men.
"The GoI and state government have left no stone unturned in providing the safety gadgets to the PDD, but one fails to understand that why there is a lack of coordination and communication among the field staff," said sources.
There are various electrical safety devices that protect electrical circuits from short circuits or overloads, but the untrained labourers jump on the electric poles to get the line repaired, while as they have never been taught that once triggered, circuit breakers can be automatically or manually reset, unlike fuses that have to be replaced once used, said sources.
Sources said that it is a matter of concern for the department concerned that why these innocent linemen of PDD die so cheaply, it seems that there is no system at all.
The department concerned has many JEs, AEEs, and Ex Engineers, and unfortunately they have failed to take any stern action against the operators whatsoever.
An employee of PDD told ET that the people who die are mostly casual labours and they are not being given safety gadgets so that they can save their lives while repairing lines on electric poles.
He believes that there is a lack of coordination and communication between the linemen and the operators.
"These casual labours are not fully trained and the whole responsibility lies upon the people at the helm of affairs, they should be made answerable, only then such accidents will drastically come down, the employee further added.
He said that our department is exposing us to a great risk, despite growing death incidents; PDD isn't taking proper measures to make our job risk free
However sources further said that the entire system is so cheap that, they don't know the value of human lives, as in the recent past, many people in the department concerned have lost their lives, and who cares for them.
Irony is that if any efficient official wants to put the system back on track, are either elbowed out or eliminated, and if the compliant is made against him, the labourer is being kicked out from the department, said sources.
They said that this year there were so many deaths due to electric shocks; I have never seen an officer present while repairing the electric lines, instead of this they are passing the bucks from their offices only.
Notably, scores of PDD linemen have lost their lives in the line of their duty in the recent past in Kashmir valley. |
