Monday’s tragic incident in which a tribal farmer and his son died of electric shock in a farm land near here has brought into sharp focus the menace of dangling power lines posing grave danger to lives of people at various places in the district.
High tension wires running over the roofs of around 15 houses at a residential colony in Cheruvumadaram in Nelakondapalli mandal has become a cause of grave safety concern for residents of the locality.
The residents of the colony complained to the officials concerned about the danger posed by the HT wires mainly to children who tend to go atop the terrace to play.
A delegation of the local youth submitted a memorandum to the district authorities during the grievance redressal meeting seeking shifting of the 11KV lines passing over their houses.
The sagging power supply line strung up from an electricity pole at a farm land at Muthagudem village in Khammam rural mandal continues to pose threat to farmers.
“I had represented the matter to the staff concerned seeking relocation of the electricity pole from my two-acre farm land to avert risk to our lives”, says J. Veeranna, a local farmer.
The loosely hanging live wires could cause fire mishaps in our maize field in summer and tragic deaths in monsoon season under the impact of strong gales, he says anxiously.
Sources in the Northern Power Distribution Company of Telangana Limited (TSNPDCL) maintained that the HT lines existed prior to the construction of the houses at Cheruvumadaram in Nelakondapalli mandal.
Almost all complaints of dangling of power lines and other related grievances of consumers have been addressed as part of strengthening of the High Voltage Distribution System all over the district, sources said.
When contacted, the TSNPDCL Superintending Engineer, Khammam Circle, K. Ramesh, told The Hindu that payment of stipulated charges was imperative to shift any HT lines located close to houses.
“We will shift the HT lines if the requisite charges are paid by the consumers individually or from the Gram Panchayat funds concerned,” he saidSeveral HT lines were relocated from the residential zones in Palair constituency after the shifting charges were released from the Constituency Development Funds.