HYDERABAD: B. Mallesh of Somajiguda, Y. Ramesh, General Bazar, Mohd. Amin, Kavadiguda and Shivshankar Goud of Banjara Hills, all had a morbid commonality -- electrocution while trying to fix power lines.

Contract labourers, clambering up electric poles to fix circuits in the maze of wires to ensure light in the homes of people, put their lives on the line. Literally. Without proper safety gear and working on erratic systems, eight contract labourers died in the last six months in the twin cities.

"From the moment we begin climbing the pole till we come back, there is no guarantee to our lives. And every time we come back, it is a new lease of life," says Srinivas, a contract labourer from Secunderabad.

Measly wages

The contract labourers earn a measly Rs. 3,020 a month thanks to a wage revision effected this January. And if they die, all they get is an insurance cover of Rs. 50,000. "We have been demanding that it be increased to Rs. 1 lakh given the risks they take. The share of the contractors also has to go up from Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 2 lakhs," says K. Eswara Rao of the United Electricity Employees Union.

ISI standard safety equipment, including foot clamps, and a ban on double and triple feeding -- wherein power flows from more than one line on a single pole -- are the need of the hour.

There is a bigger danger to deal with -- poor infrastructure and maintenance norms. Insulators, the ceramic covers on electric transformers that shield the intricate power points, seemingly are the root cause for many deaths. Rao says they give away when there are voltage fluctuations and power flows into the poles, making it dangerous for not just the labourers but also unsuspecting passers-by.

Passer-by at peril

The death of an auto driver, Abid, who came in contact with an electric pole during rains at Himayatnagar recently stands testimony to this. Seven-year-old Nandini returning home from school last year at Indira Park, picked up a piece of paper from a puddle, only to meet with an untimely death.

A support wire ofa pole through which current was passing after the insulator gave away, electrocuted her.

"With no regular checks on the status of insulators, lives literally hang by the thread," Rao points out, citing the example of a horse got electrocuted right in the heart of Vidyut Soudha, the Power Department's headquarters.

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