Dinesh Kamath's news item 'Residents are not happy with the way electric department functions' that was published in Newsband

Residents are not happy with the way electric department functions

By Dinesh Kamath

BELAPUR: The people of Navi Mumbai are discussing the functioning of electric department of Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC). The focus is particularly on pre-monsoon works undertaken. The concerned employees are more bothered about the salary that is being paid to contract employees working with the department.

The residents wanted to know as to whom the maintenance contract for electric works in Belapur, Nerul and Vashi are given since they find the work done not up to their satisfaction. When they approached some political party workers they were informed that the shabby work done was owing to the very less salary that is being given to contract workers with the electric department of the civic body.

During the heavy rainfall, electric cables of housing societies were found damaged because of some digging work. NMMC authorities did not come forward to repair the damage. It was the societies themselves who had to bear the cost of repairing them. These societies are now demanding refunds for the incurred expenses.

NMMC authorities don’t seem to learn from their earlier experiences. In spite of knowing that every year during the time of monsoon there are countless problems that residents have to face, they don’t care to undertake pre-monsoon works at least three months in advance. What is the point in carrying out work when it’s already started raining?

This time too one could see open DP boxes and box on electric poles. Ideally such boxes should be at a certain height above the ground level and closed, so that children cannot reach the open wires. There is danger of children going to school touching these boxes and thus becoming victims of mishaps, especially during rains. The administration should shift the boxes to higher levels from the ground.

A corporator was of the opinion that things can improve if the maintenance contract workers with electric department are given salaries at par as their counterparts in other departments of NMMC. The decision to pay the arrears to the workers can only be taken by the municipal commissioner, he said. 

A NMMC official said that whenever there is any digging work, the electric department is affected the most, as somewhere or the other the cables are damaged. He said to prevent this happening, the security deposit of the contractor should be paid only after monsoon. This will force them to do a neat job and there will be no problems during the rains, he added.