Power cuts cripple city,‘watt’ is happening, bescom?

A stormy Sunday saw not just trees fall like nine-pins in the city, but also power cuts, that lasted not merely for a couple of hours , but almost an entire day, with the Bescom seemingly helpless to deal with the situation.

People, who prided themselves on living in the IT City, the Silicon Valley of India, found themselves without basic power supply only because of heavy rain that is not expected to cause the havoc that it usually does in Bengaluru.

Take HBR Layout, which had no power for more than eight hours after Sunday’s deluge. To the people’s dismay, the power was restored only Monday noon, disrupting their schedules and work. Ms Sunitha Reddy, a software product analyst in a reputed company, who works from home, said, “It feels like we are living in the Stone Age when we don’t get power for an entire day. On Monday, I had to finish some work for my company and found I couldn’t as there was no power and my laptop had no charge. So, I had to go to a friend’s house in Sadashivanagar to do my work. I returned home only on Tuesday morning after confirming that the power was restored.”

 In another part of the city, a mother with her 11 -month -old baby had to shift to her in-laws’ house in Rajajinagar first block, as she found it difficult to care of it in the absence of  power in her home. Mrs Alisha Begum, who stays in Kaval Byrasandra, said  the power, which was disrupted Sunday evening, was restored only Monday evening.

“I have a 11 -month -old- child and it is difficult to stay in a house without electricity. The inverters in a city like Bengaluru are of little use, because they work only for six hours and give up when there is a power cut of 12 to 15 hours. On Monday morning, when we woke up, we found that the power was not restored and there was no water too, as the pump needs  electricity to operate. Seeing no other option, I moved to my in-laws’ house and came back only after my husband confirmed that the power was restored,” she recounted.

 In the midst of all the discomfort, Bescom was of little help as its pathetic customer service call centre did not respond at any point to her calls, she complained. “The call centre is useless. It is time that the government revamped  Bescom or handed over the power supply distribution to a private agency, which can operate it efficiently, without causing the people so much inconvenience,” she suggested.

However, it’s not just people in homes who are suffering, but also industries, which are not able to meet their production targets due to the frequent power cuts. Said Mr Mohammed Saiqb, who owns a moulding factory in Peenya, “Every day we have over two hours of power cuts and this is hampering our production. We cannot always rely on our generators, as we then need to spend a great deal of money on diesel. If this continues, we will have to shift to another city, where there is regular power supply. Bescom does not understand that when our production stalls, we undergo a huge loss.”

‘Penalise Bescom for power cuts, electrocutions’

It is difficult to understand how there can be such long power cuts in a city, which is known for its IT and BT companies. This is a sign of complete inefficiency by the Bescom

The problem is there is no one to raise a voice against these authorities. Until and unless the public gets vocal, nothing will be done.  An affected consumer must file a petition before the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) and treat the matter  seriously.

The High Court too should intervene and ensure that there are no power cuts lasting for more than two hours in the city. The government needs to step in and do something about this as well as otherwise there will be a major crisis in days to come with  industries and factories too deprived of power for hours.
In my view, Bescom should be penalised for every transformer failure or for every hour of power cut and its officials suspended in case of an electrocution. Only stringent punishment will help set things right.  The government needs to wake up and ensure that there aren’t  such long and frequent power cuts in Bengaluru  when it rains.

Live wires become deathtraps in rain

The city does not only go without power for hours in heavy rain, but also sees people being electrocuted due to live wires lying carelessly around in the way of unsuspecting victims. So far this year, seven people have already died due to electrocution in the city.

As pedestrians, and two- wheeler riders make their way through the streets in rain, they are  not only at risk of accidents on the slippery and uneven roads and footpaths, but also from snapped live wires fallen on the roads. Those in homes and offices too are not safe as there could be snapped live wires on their terraces, which they could unwittingly come in contact with.

On any given day, it is common to see live wires hanging loosely from electric poles and transformers emitting sparks in the city thanks to the carelessness of the authorities, who don’t bother about regular maintenance.  These live wires become deathtraps in rain and even more so during the monsoon, electrocuting unsuspecting people, who come in contact with them.

A senior Bescom officer , however, blames the victims' carelessness and the BBMP’s lack of response to its pleas for better construction of buildings for  90 per cent of these cases. “It is not only the Bescom’s fault. The BBMP is  equally responsible as although we always tell it to ensure there is vertical clearance when live wires are found near a building under construction, it doesn’t pay any attention.  We even issue it notices, but still nothing is done,” he regretted.

The officer also claimed Bescom regularly reminded the agencies concerned to ensure that tree branches were pruned in such a way that they did not come in contact with live wires, but they didn’t pay any attention.  “So when it rains, the branches fall on the wires, which snap and fall and prove a risk for pedestrians on the roads,” he said.

But he did agree that Bescom also needed to carry out regular maintenance work, especially before the arrival of the monsoon. “We need to carry out efficient maintenance work of wires and transformers before the arrival of the monsoon. Every loose wire must be fixed and kept away from human or animal contact. The transformers must be serviced and even the feeder stations must be checked regularly. If such basic tasks are done regularly, we will not have to worry during the rains,” he admitted.