PDD yet to replace wooden poles in Poonch village

DK Sudan

Poonch, February 8

Despite crores of rupees spent on the maintenance of HT/LT lines , wooden poles and trees are still being used in place of poles, which pose a risk to the lives of humans and cattle in many villages of Poonch district.

Arai village, just 4 km from tehsil headquarters of Mandi, is a live example where people are compelled to install wooden poles to get power lines to the village whereas in some places trees are used as poles to hold power lines.

“We have been using wooden poles and trees in place of iron poles for the past over five years as the Power Development Department (PDD) has refused to provide iron poles to the village,” said Aria resident Moulana Kabir.

“For the past three years, we have been hearing that some poles have been sanctioned for our village under the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY), but we have yet to get even a single pole as electricity has become a necessity. We have to manage ourselves, so we get electricity connections from the main power line which is over 500 m from our village on wooden poles,” Kabir said.

“Despite repeated complaints, no one from the PDD come here to take stock of our problem. Even the problem was also raised several times at public darbars. We have to replace these wooden poles within a year because risks are higher in winter,” said Mohammad Maroof, another villager. “The village also lacks road connectivity and transport services. We face many difficulties while shifting patients to the Mandi Sub District Hospital if one gets ill.”

Villagers said during the rains they felt insecure as green trees might cause electric shocks. Sources in the PDD disclosed that Arai village was shown fully electrified in the annual report of the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) where the village was allotted all the required poles with wires.

Despite many repeated attempts, the Executive Engineer, PDD, was not available for comment.