High-tension power line falls near Telco, narrow escape for Chinmaya Vidyalay, Little Flower school children

Jamshedpur: School children had a narrow escape as a pole of high-tension power line fell on the ground covering on a road under Birsanagar police station area near Telco on Thursday morning.

The incident of pole falling took place when children were on their way to various schools, including Chinmaya Vidyalay, Shiksha Niketan and Little Flower but fortunately none of the vehicle came in contact with the fallen live wire.

The incident took place on the Birsanagar-Telco Road in Zone No 3 in Birsanagar near Hero Show-room, that spread panic among the commuters.  As the fallen pole and wire had covered the road, the school vehicle operators then took alternative routes.

The pole that fell on the ground was meant for transmitting 11,000 KVA line.  As the base of the pole had gathered rust it suddenly broke down and fell along with wire.

As soon as the incident took place, OC, Birsnagar police station Sunil Kuswaha rushed to the spot and barricaded the area surrounding the spot. Soon after a team of Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Ltd (JBVNL) had also reached there.

” No one was injured. It was a pole which had fallen down due to its base getting rusted, causing disruption in the power supply in the area.  But we have restored the power suppy after connecting the power line to another pole nearly,” said an official.

He admitted that pole are being used in large number for drawing power line of 11,000 KVA and even 33,000 KVA as per decision by the JBVNL authority in Ranchi.

He said they have already ordered for an enquiry into the incident. ” It could have devasting impact but fortunately no mishap took place. We have asked the SDO (electrical), Birsanagar to find out the reason behind the fall of the high-tension line,” said the official.

An official admitted that the incidents of cables falling take place in the JBVNL command areas during the season, but he prompted to say that they are concerned about the problem. He, however, promised to carry out a survey of the areas where the supplies power and try to find out the defective overhead cables soon.

Apart from short-circuit, cases of deaths due to electric shocks in several areas from these wires have also been reported. But all these incidents have failed to evoke reaction from the authorities, who have never bothered to take action for redressing this grievance of residents.

�Though the web of loose high-tension wires in the command areas poses a threat to the life and property of the residents, the authorities are not bothered to take action on it,� said Prakash Sharma, a social worker.