When a government complex houses important offices for the taluka, one would have imagined that efforts would have been made to ensure the safety of these offices.
But one look at the electricity connection to the complex exposes a shocking situation: Open meter boxes, exposed wires, defective meters and faulty fuses. A short circuit is all that is needed to send the entire building into a towering inferno, destroying vital government files, documents and records.
The Canacona taluka government complex caters to the offices of the deputy collector, mamlatdar, civil supplies and the treasury on the ground floor. On the first floor of this building one finds the office of excise, sub-registrar, BDO, social welfare, agriculture and women and child development, while the PWD and Water Resource Department operate on the second floor.
The government workers at the complex attend to the grievances of the public, but their own pleas to their counterparts in the PWD (buildings) to rectify the deteriorated electricity supply line has not evoked any response.
The junction box on the ground floor of the building contains different meter boxes and fuses are allotted to each office. Over the years, the junction box has deteriorated to such an extent that live wires are now exposed at some places. Many of the dusty watt hour meters are defective, while thick gauge wires have been used as fuses instead of proper rated fusible devises.
This building is supplied with 440 volts directly from the main line and the supply line is tapped and through adequate transformers the voltage is brought down to 220 volts, sufficient to operate most equipment.
But if there is a leakage and if one neutral wire malfunctions and comes in contact with the high tension wire, the whole building could receive 440 volts, sufficient to destroy all electronic equipment and data in operation at the various government offices.
The PWD (buildings), the section entrusted to maintain buildings, reportedly responded by removing some fuse assembly casings that were frequently getting fused and re-routed the connection directly to each office bypassing the fuse.
When apprised of the situation, Canacona Electricity department Assistant Engineer Santosh Lolayekar clarified that it is the duty of the PWD (buildings) division to maintain the building.
“Recently, the PWD had requested us to release a three-phase connection and it was provided to them immediately,” said Lolayekar.
The heads of the various departments located in the building were largely oblivious to the sorry state of affairs and the impending danger due to the faulty electricity supply.
When contacted, WRD Assistant Engineer Gopinath Desai said his department was regularly receiving their bi-monthly electricity bills, which averaged Rs 400. He was unaware that the Watt Hour meter to his office was not functioning and that bills were issued to him blindly on the law of averages by the meter reader.
Assistant engineer (PWD buildings) Louis Dias confirmed that all government buildings and their upkeep are entrusted to their department, except for some government school buildings which are entrusted to other agencies by the government.
“There is only one lineman at our service in PWD buildings division for the whole of Canacona taluka,” claimed a source in the PWD office.
Another source in the PWD pointed out that the responsibility for the electrical works is entrusted to PWD Works Division (XXII) at Margao.
When contacted, one Rivankar at the Margao office claimed that all works pertaining to maintenance works have been tendered and would be completed very shortly.
He was, however, tight-lipped on the deadline to complete the work and curtly asked this reporter to meet him at his office at Margao and refused to divulge further details, before disconnecting his phone.
