Two towers of 132 KV transmission line have suffered damages resulting in snapping of power supply to two districts of Doda and Kishtwar. Though temporarily power supply was restored to Doda district immediately by making alternate arrangements, Kishtwar remained in darkness till this evening. It is reported that some people were burning trees which fell on the line and caused damage to both the towers. This appears too simplistic. Firstly where were the linemen and other junior staff who are supposed to keep a close watch around the tower or sub-station for supply of power. Secondly, who were the people burning the trees and how does that lead to damage to the lines? There should be more solid reasons to explain power failure. One cannot rule out sabotage.
If we accept the theory that the damage was caused by the trees falling on the line, the simple question is why the authorities of the NHPC did not take preventive measures and removed the trees close to the line. No tree of a bigger size has to exist close to the transmission line. This formula seems to have been ignored and felling of the trees in close proximity of the line or the sub-station has not been strictly adhered to with the result that a huge damage has been caused. According to the NHPC top authorities, the two towers have to be replaced and that will take time. The question arises whether the two damaged towers were so fragile that these collapsed with just the tree fall? If the two towers were suspected to be fragile why the authorities did not take necessary action in time? That would have spared the two districts the power cut problem.
Whose responsibility is it to maintain supervision of the transmission line especially at sensitive sites where one or the other happening is likely to disrupt power supply? Furthermore, the power supplying sources whether NHPC or the PDD, should have arrangement to meet and resolve emergency situations. Besides the staff on duty, an emergency unit within the organization has to be in place equipped with not only the technical manpower but also the equipment that is generally required for restoration of damaged power supply. This is especially needed for hilly and inaccessible regions.
We will have to say that consumers of electric power also have some responsibility which they are shunning to shoulder. There is power shortage in almost all developing countries. Our country, in particular, is faced with this problem in a big way because there is population movement from villages to the cities and with that there is great pressure on civic services like water, sanitation, power, healthcare etc. In a country like ours, these problems are not going to fade away that soon because we are in a process of development. Therefore we shall have to find solutions to problems not on make-shift but on permanent basis. The quality of work also has to be noted. Modernization of services has a big role to play. For example in most of the European and developed countries most of power supply lines are under ground. This helps in securing power supply system against vagaries of weather or of human nature. We should also try to explore that possibility for power supply system.
Follow our WhatsApp channel