On September 29, 2021, a seven-year-old boy, who was playing at a public garden near his residence at NGO Colony, off Sedam Road in Kalaburagi, was electrocuted after he accidentally touched a live electricity wire connected to a high-mast lighting pole. The incident highlighted the gross negligence and irresponsibility of the power supplier – Gulbarga Electricity Supply Company Limited (GESCOM) and the garden maintainer – Kalaburagi City Corporation in ensuring the safety measures.
The poor boy, indeed, was among the 100 people who lost their lives in different electrical accidents reported from the Kalyana Karnataka region that year. Apart from these human losses, 62 more people sustained injuries and 204 animals were killed in these electrical accidents in the region.
The GESCOM, State-owned undertaking entrusted with the responsibility of supplying power in Kalyana Karnataka, appears to have failed to address the issue of electrical accidents that have been claiming precious human and animal lives every year.
As per the data collected by The Hindu, 966 people have been killed in electrical accidents in the GESCOM area between 2014-15 and 2023-24 (till November 2023). This is in addition to the 773 people who sustained injuries and 2,165 animals that died in these accidents. Interestingly, the GESCOM has spent ₹181.26 crore for implementing accident prevention measures in the same period.
The most fatal year for GESCOM was 2020-21 when 130 people were killed and 61 people were injured, apart from the death of 275 animal deaths, in these accidents. The GESCOM spent ₹12.71 crore to prevent accidents in the year. In the previous year, 114 people and 216 animals were killed and 91 people were injured.
GESCOM’s expenditure of ₹26.96 crore for the prevention of accidents in 2022-23 did not help the company in minimising the accidents as the year saw 99 deaths. In the nine months of the next financial year, 69 human deaths and 256 animal deaths are reported.
“The loss of lives shows that GESCOM has spent the money without proper planning. It is obligatory on the part of GESCOM to make its power distribution infrastructure safe by implementing the standard safety norms and eliminating technical deficiencies. GESCOM has failed on the matter,” says Deepak Gala, an activist and power expert.
In his objections to GESCOM’s Annual Performance Review (APR) filed before the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) for the year 2024-25, Mr. Gala has even alleged that the GESCOM was not conducting the 11kV feeder-wise survey as per the safety manual for identifying and fixing the technical deficiencies in each element of the distribution system.
When contacted for his response, Ravindra Karalingannavar, Managing Director of GESCOM, said that the company was regularly conducting surveys to identify hazardous locations and put safety measures in place to prevent accidents. He also held people’s negligence responsible for many accidents.
“There are two types of accidents – the accidents involving our company staff and those involving common people. We are organising workshops for our staff and awareness programmes for common people regularly. Yet, people build houses in hazardous locations without our knowledge and invite dangers,” Mr. Karalingannavar told The Hindu.
