Future Shock: GED, L&T And PGCIL Keep An Entire Village In Suspense!

Anytime after their new underground electricity cables are charged, residents from Saligao, Goa, may well be in for a surprise. And it will not be pleasant, because it could shock them into an Intensive Care Unit if not straight into the next world. Instead of cool, life-giving water gushing from Saligao’s taps, villagers do not know when 11,000 volts (11 KVA) of raw, electric power will zap and toast them to a crisp. The suspense itself is shocking!

There is a running feud between Larsen & Toubro (L&T) the company that bagged the prestigious contract for the underground cabling in Goa and their sub-contractors who are actually digging and installing the cables here in Saligao. The dispute ensured that the 11 KVA cable criss-crossed water pipelines in Tabravaddo, while in neighbouring Donvaddo, residents claimed they were laid squarely on top of a network of 4 water pipes under a narrow road. No one has a clue where the cables are being laid in the rest of the village, least of all the local Public Works Department-Water (PWD) that maintains the water pipes in Saligao.

In this high suspense drama, where the main players are the
Goa Electricity Department (GED) as the owner of the project, L&T as contractors, with the Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. (PGCIL) as consultants, no one, especially the GED know what is happening.

There is no one from GED on site to ensure safe procedures. When we talked to one engineer from GED, he was shocked to hear of the safety measures employed and asked us to write a complaint to the engineer looking after the 11 KVA lines in this area.

There also is no coordination between L&T and the Telephone (BSNL), PWD-Water and PWD-Roads departments. For instance, when the digging was started on our road opposite St. Anne's chapel, the local PWD-Water supervisor was not called in to point out the exact location of the water pipes.

L&T have instructed the digging contractors to maintain a minimum of 300 mm or 1 foot distance between the cable and the nearest water pipeline. "If the distance is not available, a partition of loose bricks will be constructed by the side of the pipeline to separate the 11 KVA cable", says Jayshanker, L&T's engineer in charge of the Saligao project (see Jayshanker's diagram of the 300 mm distance).

We insisted that Santosh Mandrekar, the supervisor in charge of PWD's water department in Saligao, meet Jayshanker at the site outside our house a few days ago. Mandrekar pointed out the future danger of local PWD staff working on a damaged pipeline next to the 11 KVA power cable. "If by mistake my worker's pick axe digs into the power cable, in a trench filled with water, can you imagine what will happen? Not only will my worker be electrocuted instantly, but every pipeline and tap in the village will immediately be charged with 11,000 volts of electricity!" (see pics showing leak caused by cable digging and emptying of trench after valves were shut)

Jayshanker assured Mandrekar that adequate precautions will be taken and that wherever the11 KVA cable crosses water lines, the cable will be put under the pipeline at a safe distance. This however does not seem to be happening at all places, as the digging contractors are refusing to dig deeper or broader to maintain the 300 mm safe distance when they come across a water pipeline. It was only when we insisted that they reluctantly installed the cables under the pipelines outside our house.

This means that if local citizens do not supervise and insist on the 11 KVA cable being laid below the water pipes, or a safe 300 mm away, we may just have the cable lazily laid above them or too close to them. There they will lie in wait, like a mass death trap for unsuspecting Saligaokars in future (see pictures of cables laid on, side-by-side or just below the water pipe).

Opposite our house we had decided to jump into the trench and physically stop the work if better sense did not prevail on L&T and its local digging contractors. Some safety measures were employed like laying the cables under the pipe instead of over, as had been planned. But the safety measures are far from adequate as can be seen from the accompanying pics. We actually have a potential 'gramicide' (extermination of a whole village, where 'gram' means village!).

We spent 4 entire days to ensure that at least some semblance of safety was maintained on the cables being laid from St. Anne's Chapel to the transformer by the side of our house. Time and time again we have had to liaise between and call for common meetings between local PWD staff, digging contractors, panchayat member and L&T. And then to the extent humanly possible, we actually supervised that the maximum safe distance is maintained between the power and water lines.

Dr. Wilfred D'Souza , our previous MLA and Deputy Chief Minister who brought the underground cabling to Saligao has been informed. Bhola Ghadi, the local panchayat member is aware of this dangerous situation and is with the villagers to avert any potential danger to lives in future. We raised the issue at the Gram Sabha yesterday and asked for a Panchayat member to oversee the entire operation in the village. Last evening, we also met the new MLA, Dilip Parulekar who has promised to take up the matter at higher levels.

We hope the madness will end somewhere…sometime!

Maybe when the High Court appoints a Friend Of The Court to investigate...??

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Besides following the links in the above report,
one can also tackle this potential, shocking danger
by contacting these officials:

Shri. K. P. Nambiar
Principal Chief Engineer (PWD)
Tel: 0832-2224984, 2422901, 2226443,
2226342, 2222607, 2225515.
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Shri. Nirmal Braganza
Chief Electrical Engineer (Elect. Dept.):
Tel: 0832-2224680, 2426986, 2426421.
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S C Jamir
Governor of Goa
Tel: 0832-2453506, 2453507, 2453508
Fax: 0832-2453510
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Digambar Kamat
Chief Minister
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Shri. J P Singh, IAS
Chief Secretary
Government of Goa
Tel: 0832-2419402
Fax: 0832-2415201
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Registrar - High Court of Mumbai at Goa
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Jack Coelho
Sarpanch - Saligao
Tel. (Panchayat Ghar): 0832-2278374
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