15 July,2011 07:42 AM IST | | Sheetal Sukhija
Residents across the city have been thronging BESCOM offices seeking rectification of faulty cables; death of 8-yr-old girl has triggered 200 calls to department's help desk
Days after an eight-year-old girl lost her life after stepping on a live wire and getting electrocuted in her school premises, complaints to Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM) from irate residents across the city has surged dramatically.
Shocking end: The live wire on which Sunita stepped while going
through the backyard of her school. File pic
Over 200 complaints highlighting failures on the part of the department, have been ringing in from residents of various zones. Complaints vary from dangling un-insulated wires to mismanaged electric transformers among a few, which pose possible threats to life.
Residents of Koramangala complained that electric transformers in the area have not been attended to in the last three years. Children playing in the area are subjected to electric shocks on a daily basis as a result of coming in contact with bare wires.
"We have been constantly complaining to the authorities and every time we confront them, they claim that there is absolutely no problem. We have sent a petition containing over 1,000 signatures to the BESCOM main office about these issues, yet nothing has been done," said Keshav, a resident of Rajendra Nagar.
Indifference
The situation In K R Market in the Kalasipalyam area is no better. Transformers here have become death machines and clubbed with the wet conditions during the monsoon, the lives of three motorists have been lost.
"We've brought this problem to light many times. It is unnerving to see people getting electric shocks on a daily basis. People waiting at the BMTC bus stand in the area have sustained shock. We stood outside the BESCOM ward office for hours and got no response," said Afzal Khan, secretary of KR Market Vendor's Association.
Several other areas in the city like Mysore Road, HAL, Double Road and Bannerghatta Road are also facing similar problems.
A source in BESCOM said, "The board has different policies regarding transformers. If it is in a residential area, then the residents have to bear the expenses for maintaining them since the main body does not pay us for these services. That is why over 200 transformers across the city have not been touched by the local engineers."
When contacted, the main office refused to comment on the issue. Help desk officials said that over 200 complaints have come in over the last two days. However, it is left to be seen if anything is done about these death traps, or whether a few more lives will be forfeit.
