In the line of fire, always

Linemen of KSEB face a range of problems during work

They are the public’s favourite punching bags — getting verbally abused and even beaten up whenever people turn furious over power outages.

But, the linemen of the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) work amidst a range of problems, from inadequate manpower to poor safety mechanisms.

Model section

A lineman posted at a section office within the city limits said the introduction of the concept of model section a few years back, when revenue, maintenance and breakdown wings were formed in each section office, effectively reduced the number of linemen from 20 to 12 in every section office.

The first two wings were assigned two linemen each, leaving them out of field work and attending to routine complaints entrusted with the breakdown wing.

“Though the breakdown wing was assigned eight linemen, no more than two would be available at a time due to a mix of night duty arrangement, off and leave. Maintaining even that number becomes a struggle if someone falls sick. This means that no more than two complaints can be attended simultaneously within a section and that infuriates consumers,” the lineman said.

The norm is one lineman for 1,200 consumers. But there have been instances where 12 linemen had to attend 35,000 consumers in a particular section before an additional section was finally created.

Paltry allocation

Linesmen said they often had to use their own two-wheelers to attend to complaints and it made carrying equipment for repair works laborious. Even in section offices that were allotted vehicles, they were mostly used by officers and the linemen doing field work were denied it. The linemen continue to receive a paltry allocation as cycle allowance.

Safety remains a major challenge with numerous linemen falling victims in the line of duty. “The fact is that we don’t even have a rain coat and there have been times when we had to work atop posts shivering during the monsoon,” a lineman said.

Another threat

Wading through cables enmeshed in electric posts poses another threat. “Taking advantage of conditional permission given to one television channel, every one of them, from channels to internet providers draws cables through posts. We remove them only to see them re-appear the next day,” he said.