JOIN USThe enormous risks involved in living under overhead high-tension powerlines came dramatically close to a disaster on Saturday morning, as an 11kV cable snapped and dangled dangerously for hours at Shastrinagar near HAL.
Collective action from the residents and a relatively quick response from the Bescom team averted big trouble.
Residents complained that they had been demanding removal of the powerline for the last 25 years. The mushrooming of several multi-storey buildings within touching distance of the line has only increased the risks. Saturday’s near-mishap has struck the alarm bells again.
It was Shastrinagar resident Anita’s presence of mind that avoided a potentially dangerous turn of events. The moment she heard a loud blast triggered by the cable snapping, she rushed out to see the dangling high-tension wire precariously close to the house.
Even as her two young children played in the narrow corridor of her first floor rented house, Anita rushed in to switch off the television and the refrigerator.
That proved decisive. Seconds later, a blast struck the switchboard in the living room. “Before we could react, the ceiling fan holder was burning. We panicked and did not know what to do!” recalled Anita.
The cable had come in contact with the earthing, short-circuiting the domestic power connections. In a few minutes, several shopkeepers had downed shutters and rushed out to safety. Bescom got to work 20 minutes later, but the staff were clueless about why the line snapped.
To prevent further trouble, the agency disconnected power to the line from both the feeding and receiving ends. Incidentally, the line was scheduled to be removed but the work was reportely stuck in paperwork. Neither was the line considered for replacement with Aerial Bunched Cables (ABCs), a project launched on the recommendations of the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission in 2011.
In the ABCs, the phase conductors are insulated and this reduces the risk of electrocution. The cable’s cores are insulated with a dialectric medium, reducing line and ground faults. The life of transformers are also extended with the use of ABCs.