The lives of linemen of the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) in Ludhiana continues to be under threat, with most of the staff workers not having basic safety equipment, such as rubber gloves, safety belts and other protective gear.
The linemen, who service the poles and wires, are supposed to be given the safety gear, said Gurpreet Mehdoodan, the division president of Punjab State Electricity Board Employees Federation, adding “But in my four years here, I have never seen any lineman using these. They climb the electricity poles without any protection.”
“The power in the lines is turned off whenever a specific section has to be serviced, but due to usage of generators and inverters, the power can flow back into the wires from the users’ end,” he said, and to protect the linemen from catching shock, they must use gloves. “But we don’t get those.”
He added that besides gloves, a safety belt is also very important as when a lineman catches shock, he can fall off the pole and get severely injured. However, many linemen keep falling off the poles as they don’t have the belts required to tie themselves to the pole.
Besides these, linemen also need high-power torches when servicing in the dark, on which Mehdoodan said they use their mobile phone’s flashlight, which isn’t strong enough to provide the kind of visibility required on the job.
{{/usCountry}}Besides these, linemen also need high-power torches when servicing in the dark, on which Mehdoodan said they use their mobile phone’s flashlight, which isn’t strong enough to provide the kind of visibility required on the job.
{{/usCountry}}Similarly, the linemen also need earthing rods to ensure safety, and Mehdoodan alleged that the junior engineer responsible for the area is required to ensure that all of these things are in place before a lineman scales the pole. But, he complained, that wasn’t how things panned out on the ground.
Due to a lack of necessary safety protocols, he said, many linemen kept meeting accidents and some fatally.
There are 556 linemen in the PSPCL Ludhiana Zone, which covers areas spanned across five districts.
While Mehdoodan claimed that the linemen with the PSCPL didn’t get the safety gear, he said the complaint handler bikers (private linemen) did get the necessary gear from their respective companies.
Technical Services Union President (central zone) Rajinder Singh also supported Mehdoodan’s claims. He said the department was understaffed as the number of connections was going up but not the manpower. He said, “There’s a need for 10 junior engineers but we only have six.” The government, he said, wanted us to work efficiently, but, didn’t provide the necessary strength and gear to do so.
‘Not dept‘s negligence, but linemen’s casual approach’
Ludhiana zone chief engineer Inderpal Singh Saini denied all these claims.
“The safety gear includes helmet, rubber gloves, safety belts, gum boots, earthing sticks, torches and other things like plyers, and we provide all our men with these and even the private companies hired for maintenance are required to ensure these to their linemen,” he said. The linemen, he alleged, didn’t use this gear and that is what exposed them to risk of accidents.
He even claimed that the store at the PSPCL office had safety gear available right away.