A whopping 9,000 transformers of the total 45,000 transformers in Bangalore are on footpaths, eating into the space meant for pedestrians in what has repeatedly been branded a pedestrian-unfriendly city. The Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) has its task cut out to look for alternative locations for these.
Bescom is in a quandary after the Karnataka High Court, on Thursday, directed the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and the power utility to find out the number of transformers installed on footpaths and roads in the city and submit a report indicating the time required to relocate them. The directions were issued while hearing a petition in which the family members of a victim, who was allegedly electrocuted after coming in contact with the fence around a transformer on Church Street in May 2013, sought Rs. 29.81 crore as compensation.
The court even criticised Bescom of making a “concerted effort to suppress” the events on the day of the victim’s death. Bescom officials, when sought information on transformer accidents, told The Hindu that there were no transformer accidents reported during the financial year 2013–14.
The BBMP told the court that Bescom had installed the Church Street transformer after encroaching upon a large space on the footpath.
Bescom Managing Director Pankaj Kumar Pandey said the options before the utility were to shift the load of transformers on footpaths to nearby self-execution transformers in commercial complexes or apartments. “This way, we will be completely removing the transformer. This may be possible in a few cases,” he explained. The other alternative is shifting the transformers on footpaths to nearby government lands wherever possible, he added.
Shifting problemsBut Mr. Pandey said it may not be possible to shift all transformers off footpaths. “There is, in fact, a division bench order that allows us to put transformers on footpath. This is a pro-active step we have taken,” he said.
