TEAM HERALD
CANACONA: Sudden cyclonic winds brought down a high-mast lamp at Agonda on Sunday, highlighting the poor pre-monsoon maintenance works by the electricity department.
Around 1 pm, high-speed winds hit the taluka for 10-15 minutes, followed by intermittent rains. While most people ran indoors, a three-way high-mast lamp pole at a centralized location of Parvem-Agonda came crushing down to the road. Two of the three sodium lamps broke and showered glass in all directions.
Luckily no one was injured. The area is normally abuzz with commuters and fisherfolk, who use the roadside as a satellite market.
Electricity officials, who were alerted soon after the incident, tried to salvage the pole and the lamps. Locals criticized the electricity department and said similar accidents were waiting to happen in many parts of the village, as well as taluka.
According to residents, many electricity poles are worn-out due to their old age, but have not been replaced for years. A resident Vinod Phaldessai said, “The high mast lamp near the village church in Agonda is also in bad shape and may end up like the one that crashed down at Parvem if not replaced.”
