Tangled Mess: Risking life, vendors operating under transformers in Amritsar

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Amritsar, December 3

In absence of any check or any penalty, street vendors and hawkers at various prominent commercial points in the city continue to operate their stalls under electric transformers, posing a risk to not only to their own lives but also to that of buyers.

Sparing no thought to the possible threat of electrocution, these vendors can be seen operating under transformers, with even loose wires hanging or suspended over, in parts of Ghee mandi, Islamabad and various other commercial chokepoints.

Electric transformers, loose and taped electric wires on footpaths of city roads already are a threat to commuters and passersby. In some places, these transformers are installed at low height, tantamount to flouting of norms. But as PSPCL and local authorities fail to provide any solution or keep a check on violations, this has become an accepted norm.

“Transformers installed at public places must be at a certain height, away from reach and contact. They must be fenced. Vendors can be seen operating vends under the transformers, with heavy footfall of buyers, seemingly oblivious to the risk. Only when some tragedy strikes, will the authorities be woken up from their slumber?” asked a shop owner, Maninder Singh, in the Ghee mandi area.

Several incidents of electrocution of birds, animals and even some local residents have already been reported over the years. But the violation continues with the vendors citing lack of space allotted to them by the MC. “Since it’s the matter of our livelihood, where should we go if not here,” said Ram Asara, a food stall owner, who has a stall under a transformer. He claims he is doing his business from the spot since four years.