TEAM HERALD
bureau@herald-goa.com
DABOLIM: Heavy rains accompanied by strong winds forced residents of Dabolim to remain in darkness from Thursday evening till late Friday evening, after trees uprooted and damaged electricity cables.
The residents claimed that a tree fell near the St Cruz Chapel in Dabolim at about 8.30 pm on Thursday, damaging the electricity pole and the lines. As a result, power supply was disrupted to Dabolim and nearby areas. Some branches also damaged the transformer near the Chapel.
A fire tender rushed to the site and cleared the tree, while electricity department officials disconnected power supply to the entire area to avoid any mishap involving live wires and this left residents of Dabolim in darkness.
On Friday morning, assistant engineer Manu Narayan who along with his workers visited the site told Herald that the fallen electricity pole would be replaced. He informed that it would take workers the entire day to erect the new pole and pull and connect the cables. When contacted, Chicalim Deputy Sarpanch Hemant Phadte stated that it is the duty of the Electricity department to trim the trees before the monsoon.
Phadte also blamed the ward panchas for not bringing such issues to the notice of the panchayat. “Whenever the panchayat takes suo-moto action regarding any issue, the ward panchas come to argue with us for not taking them into confidence,” stated Phadte.
Meanwhile, some affected residents have raised doubts about the quality of the electricity poles after noticing that the damaged electricity pole was made up of thin iron rods mixed with cement.
“This electricity pole was quite different from the sturdier poles which are made from iron rods and concrete,” remarked a resident.
When contacted, Assistant Engineer Manu N insisted that the plain cement concrete (PCC) pole was as strong as the earlier reinforced cement concrete (RCC) poles.
“The PCC electricity poles are fixed under central funding and these poles are installed all across the State, as they are cheaper in comparison to RCC poles,” said Manu.
Offering a different view, an engineer speaking on condition of anonymity stated that RCC electricity poles are more durable than PCC poles.
“There is no reinforcement in PCC poles as compared to RCC poles. The PCC poles are suitable only on a road where there is no heavy traffic,” said the engineer.
