J&K Govt Looks the Other Way as Power Lines Claim Workers’ Lives

Will the Jammu and Kashmir Power Development Department continue to turn a blind eye to these preventable incidents?

Electric wires have claimed many lives in Jammu and Kashmir. (Photo: The Quint/ Junaid Syed Hashmi)

Jammu and Kashmir Power Development Department (JKPDD) seems to have learnt no lessons from the gory incident in which a labourer was filmed dying a painful death on an electric pole in the heart of Srinagar in Kashmir Valley on 5 March 2017.

His companion, who too was electrocuted, survived with crippling injuries. “A total of 48 people have lost their lives, most of them due to electrocution in the last two years,” Mir Abdus Salam Rajpuri, President of J&K Electrical Employees Union (JKEEU), told The Quint.

Labourers are electrocuted to death on these poles on a regular basis. (Photo: The Quint/ Junaid Syed Hashmi)

Lives Hanging by a Wire

In a fresh incident, two labourers were seen repairing a 132 KV line which originates from the Gladni Grid Station and feeds Pouni Chak Grid Station, passing through Yatri Niwas, the base camp of Amarnath Yatra pilgrims in Bhagwati Nagar area of Jammu city.

The two labourers, Amit Kumar and Shanti Chand, both hailing from Odisha were hanging from the wires on the banks of River Tawi when The Quint filmed them. The contractor, also from Odisha, who was accompanying them, said, “This work has been assigned to us by JKPDD. We are shifting the 132 KV line.”

The place where the two labourers were hanging from the 132 KV line is merely 1.1 kilometres away from the official residence of Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Power Dr Nirmal Singh, who lives in Canal Road. The office of the Chief Engineer, Power Development Department, Ashwani Gupta is a mere 500 metres away.

The line is being shifted to make way for the extension of the Jammu airport. According to Gupta, “Twenty two towers of 132 KV line are being shifted from the side facing Jammu Airport by constructing 28 towers on the new alignment.”

A life hanging by a wire. (Photo: The Quint/Junaid Syed Hashmi)

Is Protective Gear Provided?

On the issue of labourers hanging from the high tension 132 KV power lines, Gupta said that all safety gear has been provided to them. “I have not seen anyone hanging with the wires [sic]. Anyway, the wires are yet to be charged. So, they are working in a safe environment,” said Gupta.

When asked how safe working while hanging from wires – which can break and lead to casualty – was, Gupta said, “I will find out what exactly is happening. If need arises, we will bring in machines to ensure labourers do not continue working dangerously.” However, he was unable to say anything when asked about the 48 deaths.

The President of J&K Electrical Employees Union (JKEEU), however, has a different story to tell.

“There is a provision to provide training for one week and supply safety gear to all technical staff before sending them on field jobs. But the department doesn’t provide training or safety gear. We have been protesting this but nobody is responding,” Rajpuri said.

When asked about whether the families of these labourers were offered any compensation, Rajpuri said:

“Any employee who faces death or serious injury on duty is supposed to get compensation from the department. But there is a tedious legal process. There should be a field inspection report followed by an FIR. When an FIR is filed, the responsibility will ultimately be fixed with higher level officials like the Executive Engineer. So they avoid filing an FIR and the affected employees don’t get compensation. There is no provision to pay compensation to the hired labourers.”

The Quint further asked the Odisha-based contractor why no machines have been pressed into action and why the two labourers were being forced to work dangerously. “There is no such machine which can be used to repair high tension 132 KV wires. Forget India, such a machine is not available even in foreign countries.” His aide, a young man aged around 17, was quick to add, “Hydro. That won’t work for us. This is not done always. This kind of work is done in exceptional cases.”

Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Power Dr Nirmal Singh did not respond to the calls, SMSes or WhatsApp messages. The callousness of the JKPDD in rectifying its approach towards labourers engaged by it has already resulted in an alarming number of casualties.

A Case of Department Apathy

Twenty-nine regular and need-based workers perished on duty in Kashmir while 19 employees died in Jammu Province. Against the loss of 48 human lives, only three employees – one posted at Kathua and two at Jammu – were suspended for negligence in two years. An RTI reply which was recently in the news revealed that in most of the on-duty death cases, a departmental enquiry was not ordered; and in incidents where probe was ordered, the reports are still awaited and hence no action was taken.

In Bemina area of the Kashmir Valley, 19 staffers were killed in 2015-16 and eight in the following year. Similarly, one regular employee with EM&RE Division, Kishtwar in Jammu region, died on duty in 2015-16 and one need-based worker in 2016-17, but no compensation was given and no action was taken against anyone.

Two regular employees and one daily wager with EM&RE Division-I Jammu died on duty. At present, there are over 10,000 need-based workers and hundreds of casual labourers working in the department. While a casual labourer gets monthly wages of Rs 4,500, a need-based worker is paid anywhere from a few hundreds to Rs 1,000 once or twice a year.

“Around 15 lives are lost by the JKPDD every year on an average. They are all poor casual labourers and daily wage bread-earners,” Rajpuri laments. “At least 20 employees get severely injured every year with some of them having to amputate arms or legs due to severe burns,” he added.

Will the Jammu and Kashmir Power Development Department turn a blind eye to these incidents, again?