Loose and hanging wires over wheat fields worry farmers

Manmeet Singh Gill

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, April 11

Loose and hanging electricity wires are a major threat to the standing wheat crop in the fields, as a spark produced by them after coming into contact with each other can prove disastrous and burn the wheat crop.

The threat has proved right during the past many years when a large number of wheat fields were burnt due to short-circuiting of loose and hanging electricity wires. Apprehensive farmers have requested the Power Corporation to tighten these wires on various occasions. 

However, the Power Corporation claims that the action is taken every time a complaint in this regard is received. Officials said that the metallic electricity wires get expanded due to heat and are automatically restored to their original size in the winter. 

But still the threat these loose wires pose to the standing crops, for which farmers have toiled day and night for the past six months cannot be ignored. “If the Power Corporation carries out time to time repair work to tighten these wires, the farmers will be saved from fire accidents and the corporation from the compensation it has to pay to the farmers for its negligence,” said a farmer activist, Rajinder Singh. However, to get compensation from the Power Corporation is a tedious process and a farmer without legal know how and resources often ends up getting nothing. 

Sham Singh, a resident of Bal village, said, “The Power Department had installed an electricity transformer near my field and my crop is under a major risk of fire incidents.” He said now the department says that he should not plant any crop near the periphery of the transformer. “Earlier they used my land to instal the transformer for which no compensation was paid and now they want that I should leave the surrounding area without a crop to reduce the chances of accidental fires,” he complained. 

A visit to the villages surrounding the city would reveal that most of the wires are hanging loose and in case of fast winds, they can come in touch with each other to produce sparks.

The Power Corporation officials prefer to cut off the power supply to villages and fields during the wheat harvesting season, so that no sparks are produced. “Instead of tightening the wires, the families and small children who need fans are punished by disconnecting the power supply during day time. It would be better if the wires are tightened and the power supply is continued for the entire day and night, as the government claims that the state has become power surplus,” said another farmer, Harpreet Singh of Nawanpind village.

Meanwhile a Power Corporation official said, “To execute repair works every year to tighten these wires means that the department would require a huge manpower. We usually focus on power lines which are extremely loose and as a precaution adopt measures such as disconnecting power supply during the day or advising the farmers to take precautions.”