Tangedco blamed for poor upkeep of domestic connections, safety

Chennai

On Saturday evening, a 13-year-old boy was electrocuted at his home in Pallikaranai when he accidentally came in contact with a live wire. Two workers trying to clear stagnant water from a fence-making unit at Pulianthope were electrocuted on Saturday morning.

Five others have died over the past 72 hours. In the last four months, the State government has paid solatium to the families of 58 people who were electrocuted in various incidents across the State. According to the National Crime Record Bureau statistics, Tamil Nadu has been witnessing a steady rise in the number of electrocutions and deaths related to it. In 2019, 729 people died as against 491 deaths recorded in 2016.

The people have long blamed Tangedco for poor upkeep of its distribution network, particularly, overhead lines and in equal measure, the lack of adequate safety for domestic connections such as enforcing ELCB circuit breakers that could go a long way in preventing electrocutions.

“In September 2019, Tangedco urged consumers with a connected load of over two-kilo watt to install the ELCB device as a safety measure but it was never followed up. Such a measure could have saved many lives and government could even provide it free for the poor,” said Ganesan, an electrical contractor from Mogappair. “If the high-tension lines get snapped, the power supply will automatically cease due to the tripping of breakers. But no such protective measures are in place for the low-tension cables which run along the streets. Hence, to avoid such cable snapping, the old and worn out conductors should be replaced. But such measures are not being taken by Tangedco,” C Selvaraj, RTI activist and former TNEB employee, said. When contacted, a senior Tangedco official said instructions were given to replace aged, deteriorated conductors and poles besides carrying out line patrolling periodically to ensure healthiness of overhead conductors.

Doctor-daughter killed as bike skids into stormwater drain

A 50-year-old doctor and her 20-year-old daughter on their two-wheeler were killed after they skid and fell into an open stormwater drain on the service road of Irumbuliyar-Maduravoyal bypass in Mogappair. Carolin Priscilla, Ayanambakkam, was a professor at a private medical college while her daughter Evelyn was an architecture student. The incident occured while they were returning from a supermarket.