With lifts becoming near ubiquitous in a city that is seeing its structures go higher and higher, the overseers of the installations are struggling to keep pace with the development.
A little more than half of more than 6,000 high-rises in the city have been checked by the Department of Electrical Inspectorate, which not only approves electrical installations for multi-storey buildings (above 15m in height) but also is responsible for compliance of approved buildings.
Even among those inspected, more than 90 per cent are found to have defects that need to be fixed before the next inspection, said sources.
For instance, an inspector said, each division may have between 3,000 and 5,000 installations (including, generators, lifts, transformers) that need to be checked. “But we can manage only five a day. And even if there are issues with the installations, it is humanly impossible to verify compliance,” said an official.
Vacant postsApart from the wide-array of responsibilities attributed to the department, high vacancies have burdened the department. More than 20 per cent of the posts are vacant in Bengaluru Urban.
“We had far more vacancies, but recently a few posts have been filled. We have been trying to manage with whatever resources we have, by giving priority to buildings that have not been inspected in some time,” said D.H. Basavaraj, Chief Electrical Inspector.
However, a former Technical Director of the Karnataka Fire and Emergency Services said that in many cases, approval from the directorate was given without even inspecting the building. “We saw a sense of disinterest. They approve extensions and alterations without even visiting the building. Most short-circuit fires are caused by illegal tapping of wires or alterations. And when we would ask the inspectorate officials, they would claim ignorance over the matter,” said the official.
