A 42-year-old man lost his life to civic negligence on Tuesday when a faulty electric post came crashing down on him in Chennai’s Chitlapakkam. Two days later, even as the police and the State Electricity Minister attempt to wash their hands of the tragic accident, enraged residents of Chitlapakkam connected a survey in their neighbourhood for faulty EB posts. Their findings have confirmed sheer apathy displayed by civic authorities.
A local NGO called Chitlapakkam Rising has discovered at least 60 EB posts in the locality that are faulty – ranging from minor issues to heavy cracks and damage.
Electric poles in areas such as Babu Street, Sarvamangala Nagar, CV Ramanar Street, Raghavendra Salai, Nakeeran Street, Genguswamy Street, Chitlapakkam 2 main road, Thirumagalnagar Second Street, Thirumurugan Salai, Kalyana Sundaram Street and others were found to have significant faults that pose imminent threats to residents.
While Babu street had the most number of faulty posts, a particular electric post in Chitlapakkam 2nd main road is dangerously bent with severe cracks in the structure. As for the electric post which fell on Sethuraj, killing him, a simple inspection has revealed that the metal core of the post had entirely been corroded, affecting the stability of the post.
“So many times we have made calls to the TNEB asking them to remove the abandoned broadband and dish cables lying on the road and fix the loose electric posts. Last year, a few members from Chitlapakkam Rising even went to the TNEB office to make the same request. Every single time, they told us that they were understaffed and that it cannot be done immediately,” says Salesh, a member of Chitlapakkam Rising.
After Sethuraj’s passing, TNEB officials have finally acted by replacing the faulty electric post in Kalyana Sundaram street with a new one.
However, state electricity minister P Thangamani in a press conference on Wednesday blatantly denied that Sethuraj died because the pole was faulty. Instead, he blamed the accident on a truck.
“When TANGEDCO officials inspected the area, they found out that the cement base of the electric pole was intact, indicating that the pole itself was in good condition. However, the pole collapsed after a truck nearby hit a tree and a branch of the tree fell on the pole, destabilising it,” Thangamani was quoted in a TNIE report. The minister also showed CCTV visuals showing a truck ramming on a tree and a man walking nearby.
However, enraged residents of Chitlapakkam have challenged the CCTV visuals, saying they are from a different location.
“This is not the locality where the accident happened. The streets here are much narrower and trucks cannot go through easily. The TN electricity minister has lied and taken another CCTV footage from elsewhere to cook up a story and pass the buck,” Salesh added.
Sethuraj’s death is the second instance in a span of two days that a citizen has been electrocuted to death. On Monday, Dheena Senthil, a 14-year old boy from Mugalivakkam, was electrocuted to death after coming in contact with an exposed live wire. Dheena was walking in the neighbourhood when he stepped on the wire which had not been properly isolated and buried by the TNEB workers.
According to reports, the live wire had been temporarily buried under a mound of soil as the laying of wires and work on drainage pipes had not been completed in the area. With showers over the past few days, the mound of soil dissolved, exposing the live wire.
Even as the electricity minister denies any negligence on the part of the TNEB, Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami has announced a solatium of Rs 3 lakhs to the family of the deceased.