Have you seen cattle tethered to the high tension wires towers? If not, take a round of the city to see how the people are living, blatantly risking their lives. According to law, at least 18 to 25 feet space around the wires should be kept vacant, to prevent any activities, that may invite danger in future. The Mysore City Corporation(MCC) which is supposed to clear such encroachments has kept its eyes and ears closed. Even the authorities of Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation, whose duty is to check such violations, are also not bothered. The area around the high tension wire needs to be kept free from any kind of human occupation to check any untoward incidents.
The Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited (KPTCL) has issued guidelines that there should be no human occupation and cattle should not be tied even to the fence put up to prevent the people from going near the high tension towers.
But some people have converted the vacant space below the high tension wires into cattle shed. A few use this space as dumping yard. The interesting thing is that several schools and colleges and places of worship are also constructed just below the high-tension wire.
The nomads have made the space as their temporary houses. A number of houses are constructed in slums and new extensions near the high-tension towers.
At Sharadadevinagar, the autorickshaws are parked during nights. Pro-Kannada organisations have constructed the flag posts to hoist the Kannada flags on Rajyotsava day.
Worse is, the MCC itself has built its office under the wire near Vivekananda Nagar where people go to pay taxes. Such violations are rampant wherever the high-tension wire passes in the city thanks to negligence of the authorities concerned. It is rampant especially in the areas that come under Narasimhararaja Assembly Constituency where poor and economically weaker families live.
According to sources, hundreds of kilometers of hi-tension wire passes through the city and connects 220 KV stations at Hoottagalli, Vajamanagala and Kadakola. The Mysore and surrounding areas get power supply from those stations.
The Hootagalli Station is connected to Sharavathi Power Generation Station from Shimoga. Kadakola KV Station supplies power to Kerala and Vajamangala KV Station supply power to Bangalore- Peenya region.
Retired chief engineer of KPTCL, B K Lakshmikanth said a minimum of 18 feet and maximum of 25 feet space should be kept vacant wherever the hi-tension wire passes because of high voltage power transferred in the line. The line is drawn only after the land sanctioned from the authorities concerned.
The district administration has powers to direct the authorities concerned if it come across encroachment of the said land. The KPTCL has powers only to report to district administration regarding encroachment and request the latter for action against the guilty.
Besides, the CESC can only recommend Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) or the MCC to fence the area with barbed wires or iron railings. The forest department is permitted to plant only a particular variety of trees which don't grow big to the level of wires.
Convener, Association of Concerned and Informed Citizens Mysore (ACICM), M Lakshmana expressed his grave concern over the issue, that remains to be addressed from the past several years . It is the primary duty of both MUDA and MCC to protect the area with proper fencing, rather than turning a blind eye, he urged.