Aaryan Sharma
JAMMU: For over one month now, hundreds of 3 phase 25 KVA transformers have been lying unattended, close to the drains, across different residential colonies in Jammu. Due to rainy season most of these costly transformers are also running the risk of getting damaged due to over flooding. In the absence of any safety, these transformers also run the risk of getting lifted by miscreants but the concerned agencies responsible for the entire mess are shying away from coming forward and making alternate arrangements to shift them to their store rooms.
These transformers and other material came crash ing down on ground zero after the PCC (plain concrete cement ) poles on which they were mounted by the project executing agency IRCON fell flat as they were unable to bear the load when high speed winds lashed Jammu in the first week of July 2016.
Since then the blame game is going on between the different agencies involved in the successful implementation of the ambitious R-APDRP project aimed at strengthening the power distribution network in Jammu.
Power Minister Prof Nirmal Singh claimed to have ordered an impartial and independent probe to fix the responsibility of the project executing agency at the initial stage. “If required, the terms and references of the probe would also be extended to the other players involved in the project”, Deputy Chief Minister had maintained after cornered by the media over poor quality of work executed by the agencies.
Interestingly, PDD authorities here in Jammu are facing the brunt of poor quality of work.The senior PDD officials are also finding it difficult to explain to the power consumers in the state that the project was being executed by the IRCON and since they had not completed the work the same was not handed over to the PDD as well.
Another set of officers involved with the project at the planning stage claimed when IRCON started installing PCC poles with a load capacity of only 200 kg they were forewarned.
According to these senior officers, “the authorities have bypassed the dynamic testing of the material in real life conditions and relied only on paper specifications”.
“If they had incorporated technical details of wind speed recorded in the last one decade in the region any officer would have concluded against using the PCC poles with merely 200 kg load capacity. But the same suggestion was ignored and bypassed”, senior PDD engineers alleged.
Instead of listening to the pleas and making necessary changes the concerned officers decided against tinkering with the specifications and sent the project for approval to the office of Chief Engineer (Planning and design).
According to official sources, “The poles for the High Voltage Distribution system (HVDS) erected under RAPDRP were unstable and unsafe due to overloading of PCC poles. The total load on poles was 450~500 kgs including eccentric load of distribution transformer, its supporting brackets, line load etc. Even REC specifications-15/1979 specifies that the average permanent load on poles should be 40 percent of the working load that comes to only 80 kgs against the applied load of 450~500 Kgs.
These HVDS structures were unstable that is why these structures collapsed with winds of moderate intensities endangering the property and life of public. Similarly the other materials like cables and transformers have been installed for a load less than the actual loads of the areas as a result cables and transformers gets damaged frequently resulting suffering of the public in general. It remains to be seen how soon the probe agency would be able to dig the factual details and pin point the role of the dubious officers and others involved in the goof up which not only led to wasteful expenditure but also delayed project implementation entailing higher cost at the behest of state exchequer.
