The Times of India           05.02.2014

Civic body turns off 47 street lamps to fix faults

VASHI: A month after six-year-old Babu Piraji Kale in Turbhe was electrocuted after he had touched a streetlight pole installed by the civic body, the report pertaining to his death is still awaited. But the civic administration is not willing to take any more chances.

The incident has prompted the department to issue strict directives to engineers, forbidding them from operating any streetlight poles that require maintenance and repairs.

The civic engineers said that 35 streetlight poles between Vashi and Turbhe and 12 poles between Belapur and Nerul have been switched off.

The engineers have cited reasons like rusting of electricity boxes attached to the pole, replacing the boxes to a certain height.

Even Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) has been asked to remove the wires dangling from the poles.

"Most of the streetlight poles have MSEDCL wires, which have to be removed at the earliest," said an engineer.

"The report of the unfortunate accident is expected to be released in a few days. But prior to that, specific guidelines have been given to engineers with regard to maintaining the streetlight poles. Engineers have been instructed against switching on the streetlight poles that may have even minor problems," said head of electrical department GV Rao.