District Collector instructs Tangedco to conduct safety audit of underground powerlines in Coimbatore city
The Hindu
Coimbatore District Collector instructs Tangedco to carry out a safety audit of underground powerlines in Coimbatore after tragic electrocution of a govt employee. Collector instructs Tangedco to put in place SOP to prevent similar incidents. Shopkeepers allege powerline damaged by an internet service provider while laying its cables.
District Collector Kranthi Kumar Pati has instructed the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited (Tangedco) to conduct a safety audit of underground powerlines in the city to find out if they were posing the risk of causing electric shock.
The instruction was given in the wake of the tragic death of an employee of the District Supply Office, who was electrocuted from a faulty underground powerline on a waterlogged road in the city on Tuesday.
Mr. Pati told The Hindu he instructed Tangedco to carry out an assessment of all the works involving digging of roads with underground powerlines. According to him, invariably, underground utilities such as drains and underground sewerage schemes are involved wherever road digging works are happening.
Mr. Pati also directed Tangedco to put in place a standard operating procedure (SOP) so that incidents like the one that happened to the government employee on Tuesday do not occur in the future.
Shopkeepers at the accident spot had alleged that the underground powerline could have been damaged when an internet service provider dug up the road recently. Tangedco also raised the same allegation.
Responding to the allegation that underground power cables at many places in the city were not laid in the prescribed depth, Mr. Pati said the issue had come to his attention. However, it was difficult to replace all such underground powerlines immediately. But, laying them at proper depth can be ensured in the case of new powerlines, he said.
Mr. Pati added that he would ask Tangedco to depute officials to review works involving digging of roads with underground powerlines for other utilities.