'Power dept was never prepared to fix seasonal breakdowns'

CHANDIGARH: About the arrangements made by the UT electricity department to deal with the monsoon, Gopal Datt Joshi, general secretary of the UT Powermen Union, said, "The department is never prepared to fix breakdowns. Even now the problems have been temporarily resolved. The joints in cables are temporary and would be of no use after one rainfall."
Another glaring oversight is absence of safety equipment."The department has not provided safety equipment to its employees, causing nearly 12 accidents in two months. Many employees have been seriously injured while fixing faults but the department has not taken steps to solve the problem," he said.
According to the UT superintending engineer, "We have been handling situations all year long and do our job even during the monsoon. For equipment, we have a tie-up with Delhi and Punjab for fault locator van until the tender is passed by higher authorities. For other equipment, we keep putting up tenders but everything takes time."