High-powered risk

Snaking in and out, overhead high-tension cables in the vicinity of nearly 17 schools in Faridabad district are a death trap for hundreds of children studying in the area. Every day, as these vulnerable students go about their school life, they face the risk of electrocution. The authorities concerned should have, on their own, gone about ensuring that the live wires do not threaten their lives. Seventeen schools is not an inconsequential number. Regrettably, the indolence is frustrating. Despite persistent reminders by alarmed parents, the situation remains stubbornly unchanged. The convenient, offhand excuse that passes off as a lame assurance is that the power department will soon shift the line. ‘Soon’ has not happened in a long time. 

A majority of them are extremely powerful 66 KV lines, categorised as ‘extra high tension’ (EHT) at 66,000 volts (11,000-volt lines fall in ‘high tension’ classification). Students often play close to pylons carrying these cables overhead. High-voltage lines are not insulated and can’t be weaved underground for the sheer maths of it. A sum of about Rs 2 crore would be incurred to cover a 1-km stretch. The Indian Electricity Rules clearly elucidate the horizontal (distance from buildings) and vertical (distance from ground) clearance for live wires on the basis of ‘maximum sag’. In other parts of the world, overhead lines are required to strictly comply with the ‘exposure limits’ for the general public. 

Habitation centres, as per rules, can’t come up beneath high-tension lines, but nationwide, the passing of such wires, hanging hazardously low, over roofs of commercial and residential buildings is a worrisome common sight, especially in small towns, due to violations of bylaws. In most cases, as also in the case of these schools, people are ready to pay for the shifting of lines. But repeated instances of electrocution have not pushed the authorities out of their inertia. What kind of horror this dilatory approach can unbolt is not hard to conjure. There is no doubt where the buck must stop.