Chennai: Even before the residents of Chitlapakkam could overcome the grief of loosing Sethuraj, after an EB pole fell on him 18 September, another incident took place this morning.
A pregnant cow died after a live wire fell on it in the same locality. The accident took place even as the three EB poles were replaced only last evening.
Speaking to News Today, Chitlapakkam Muthulakshmi Nagar Residents Welfare Association president L Sundararaman said, ”After the demise of Sethuraj, the EB officials were involved in replacing the damaged poles in the neighbourhood. Yesterday, they changed three poles in Ashtalakshmi Street. Today, the cow died in the same street. It is said that there was more distance between the two poles and the joint in the cable seems to have snapped and had fell on the animal.”
He further said, a resident had just crossed the spot and it was a near miss. ”We would have lost another human life in a fraction of second. Following the demise of Sethuraj, EB officials are taking some action. But due to the lack of manpower, they take the help of outside workers and at times this leads to poor quality of work,” he added.
”The residents in the locality now have to live in constant fear even to step out of their houses,” Sundararaman said.
Soon after the death of Sethuraj,Ā News TodayĀ on 21 September had reported about the residents’ concern about the patch works done on the live cables.
In that article titled ”Set right cables in suburbs” Sarvamangala Nagar Residents Welfare Association Secretary M Ravi mentioned that though several damaged EB poles were changed after Cyclone Vardah, many cables are yet to be set right.
”Several cables are left with patch works and disaster can strike anytime, if they are not repaired at the earliest. Considering the number of poles and wires damaged, instead of replacing them, it is better to implement the underground cables,” he said.