BENGALURU:
Voltage fluctuations
, power cuts/surges had been troubling residents of an
apartment complex in Kasavanahalli
for the last five days. But things took a terrible turn when residents on Friday woke up to find their fridges, television sets, water purification systems, geysers and other fittings burnt due to power surges. Worse off was another family which returned home on Saturday afternoon to find the walls of the house charred and smoke all over the place.
Residents of the 32 flats at Kapila Apartments, one among half a dozen residential structures at Owners Court on Sarajpur Road, allege that illegal drilling in their layout by construction workers of an adjacent site had damaged the power line to their apartment complex. Power supply turned erratic on Monday.
While residents were initially told that a fuse in the main power line to their building had blown, repairing the same helped little. It later came to light that there was a small blast while laying a power line for the adjacent construction site.
House in ruins
‘Anand Rajan, a techie living in Kapila Apartments, said while residents were able to manage for a few days despite low voltage, there was only intermittent power supply between Wednesday and Saturday. “Each time they repaired the fuse, it would go kaput again. We had no power on Wednesday. Finally, on Thursday, residents began to complain to Bescom through its helpline, WhatsApp number and social media. Bescom staff had to dig seven feet to locate the power cable and even engaged a JCB. Finally, they were able to temporarily supply power on Thursday evening, using borrowed cables to divert power from another layout. But around 1am on Friday, residents noticed lights either flickering or turning extra bright and appliances heating up. Many woke up the following morning to burnt stabilizers, melted surge arresters and other equipment,” he said.
Harisha NP, a resident of G7 in the same building, walked into his house on Saturday only to find it blackened and engulfed in fumes. Harish, along with his wife and daughter, had gone to Hubballi and unlike other residents, didn’t get a chance to turn off his malfunctioning appliances.
“I took a loan to purchase this house and need to check if I have insurance to pay for the damages. We stayed at a friend’s house on Saturday night and will have to make alternative arrangements till the house is restored. No senior Bescom engineer has come to see the house or examine the spot,” he said, adding Bescom officials crudely told him that he should have switched off the mains of the house before leaving to avoid such a mishap.
MASSIVE DAMAGE: Harisha NP, resident of Kapila Apartments who was away, was shocked to see the state of his house when he returned
‘POLICE INITIALLY REFUSED TO FILE FIR’
On finding several equipment damaged beyond repair, residents spent close to seven hours at Bellandur police station on Saturday trying to get an FIR registered, but claimed the cops were more keen on filing a fire accident report (FAR).
“An FAR makes it look like there was an internal wiring issue that led to the incident, whereas this is a clear case of negligence and authorities not taking care of the ongoing works, despite us alerting them at the first sign of trouble. It was only after a call was made to a higher police officer did they reach out to us on Sunday to get the FIR registered,” said Rajan.
However, the inspector at Bellandur station said there was no cause in the information furnished by residents on Saturday to merit an FIR. “Once they came with complete information, we saw it was worth an FIR,” he added. A case of mischief causing damage and negligent conduct pertaining to fire or combustible materials was registered against the builder working on the adjacent site and Kasavanahalli Bescom officers.
‘OUR SYSTEMS ARE NORMAL’
I have asked the superintending engineer to visit the site and investigate the matter. Based on the report, we will take action and hold persons responsible, if required. A technical report assessing the situation too must be prepared," said Rajendra Cholan, MD, Bescom. However, within hours, a Bescom spokesperson said inspections showed that their systems were normal and the damages could be because of an internal short circuit in the apartment and they have asked the contractor of the adjacent site to repair all the gadgets damaged due to the incident.
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