High tension power lines:Consumers interact with Bescom

Worries about high tension wires dominated the hundreds of issues raised by electricity consumers at the DH-PV phone-in with most Bescom officials hoping all such lines will be converted into underground cables.

Many wanted to hear the truth from Bescom Managing Director C Shikha, who took more than 10 calls on the issue in the programme organised by Prajavani and Deccan Herald.

Following a spate of fatal accidents involving high tension wires, Bescom officials served notices to 7,482 buildings that violated rules and constructed vertical structures under the power lines.

V Ranganathan from Subbanna Garden in Vijayanagar asked whether his house with “only ground floor” under the high tension line was safe. Nagaraju from Tumakuru sought to know whether it was safe to build a house 1.5 m away from a high tension line. H Shivanna from Channapatna asked whether the high tension line passing his house will be converted into an underground cable line.

Officials obtained details from the callers and promised that the engineers under respective jurisdictions will visit them soon for inspection. The callers were advised not to nurture false hopes as the plan to convert overhead high tension lines was limited to the distribution lines under Bescom and not the KPTCL transmission lines.

Power cuts

After several persons complained of repeated power cuts, Shikha explained that Bescom has given line clearance in some areas for development works, which affected electricity supply like the Bannerghatta Road where the BBMP and BMRCL have taken up works.

Some of the callers alerted authorities regarding power theft and sagging transmission lines posing threat.