Power dept gets nod to erect 33 KV power line in Davorlim

MARGAO, AUG 24
After being forced to suspend work following agitation by local villagers, the Power department has finally got the much-required nod from the district magistrate, South to erect the 33 KV power line in Davorlim village.
However, work on the erection of the High Tension line will take some time as the labourers have proceeded to their native village in view of the monsoons. “Work on erection of the overhead power line will now commence only after the monsoons”, informed a senior official executing the centrally-funded APDRP scheme.
The Power department is also required to deposit money with the Railways for taking the line at the railway crossing, sources informed. It was on February 22 last, that all work on the erection of the 33 KV power line from Xeldem to Rawanfond was suspended following agitation by Davorlim villagers as they strongly objected to the erection of the overhead line through the agricultural fields.
The farmers had apprehended that they would run the risk of electrocution if the 33KV line is erected via the fields. What had agitated the farmers and villagers was that the power department was trying to bulldoze its way with the work and demanded that the power department look out an alternative route or lay the line underground.
Executive Engineer, Alvito Fernandes said that the power department took the matter to the District Magistrate as the farmers were insisting on an underground line in the stretch passing through the fields. “We have been granted permission by the district Magistrate to go ahead with the work of erecting the 33KV line. Work will re-commence no sooner the contractor resumes the work at the site”, he said.
Sources in the know, however, said that commissioning of the Xeldem-Rawanfond line will take place only after the monsoons as the labourers engaged by the contractor have proceeded to their native places during the suspension of work.
A senor official overseeing implementation of APDRP scheme told Herald that work on the erection of the 1.5 km stretch of the line from Davorlim to Rawanfond will now  commence only after the monsoons.