Bengaluru: There are more than 9,000 transformers on the pavements, that are placed dangerously in and around the city. Despite a High Court directive to Bescom and other civic authorities to shift these transformers, nothing has been done. A particularly susceptible venue is Koramangala 80 feet, every now and then there is a transformer blast in this locality, in fact recently a biker lost his life after a transformer exploded.
A man sustained severe burns when an electricity transformer exploded on this stretch on April 12. He died in the hospital. Karuna, a shopkeeper, says, “Every time when the sky is a little cloudy, we have transformers bursting on this route like it’s Diwali. We are used to it now. We are scared to walk near those transformers when it is raining heavily.”
Voicing a similar opinion, Shashank, a pizza delivery boy, says, “There are times when all the transformers blast at the same time. Sometimes there is a blast even when the weather is clear. The problem is there is no maintenance at all.”
In June 2014, the Karnataka High Court asked the authorities of Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom), Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) whether it was possible to do away with electricity transformers on pavements and roads. After hearing a petition filed by family members of an engineer, who was allegedly electrocuted when he touched the fence around an electric transformer on Church Street in May last year, Justice Rama Mohan Reddy posed this question to the three government bodies during the hearing of the petition.
The Justice said this case should be an ‘eye opener’ and asked the concerned bodies to come out with their stand on the location of electricity transformers in the city. The fight is not a new one; in fact, way back in 2011 the Karnataka HC had asked Janaagraha, a Bangalore-based not-for-profit organisation, to file a consolidated report, suggesting alternatives to the installation of transformers on footpaths.
The directive was issued by the court when it took up a petition filed by Janaagraha, pointing out that in most cases, the transformers were found on the footpaths and were a threat to pedestrians. The PIL contended that transformers on pavements had pushed pedestrians on to the roads and rendered them vulnerable to accidents. Citing a survey it had conducted in 2010, the petitioner also said that there was hardly a footpath in the city without a transformer.
