Delhi’s shocking truth: Exposed wires, rains, and the apathy that follows

Less than 24 hours later, another man – this time a 30-year-old labourer – was killed after he was electrocuted in northeast Delhi’s Karawal Nagar at a construction site on Wednesday.

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These were the fifth and sixth deaths from electrocution in Delhi so far this monsoon.

Days ago, on June 28, when over 200mm of rain lashed Delhi, a 39-year-old man was electrocuted in Rohini after brushing past a live wire on a waterlogged road. On July 13, a 34-year-old woman was similarly electrocuted on a waterlogged road in Bhajanpura.

These deaths come not long after a woman was electrocuted last June at the New Delhi Railway Station after she touched a live wire during a spell of rain. The wires were hanging from a pole at the Paharganj entrance, prompting authorities to take note and assure action.

A walk in a residential street nearly anywhere in Delhi will yield sights similar to the one in Patel Nagar, especially during monsoon – a potentially lethal combination of waterlogging with loose, exposed wires that millions of residents cross daily.

These incidents bring into focus, yet again, how authorities are unable to get their act together when it comes to ensuring the safety of citizens from what is an easily preventable accident.

Other electrocution deaths this monsoon, but not directly linked to waterlogging, included the death of a BSES employee in Dwarka on June 14, while he was trying to fix an electricity pole. On Monday, a constable died after coming in contact with a high-tension wire on a terrace in Najafgarh.

HT took a walk around the city in the past week, finding out that not much appears to have changed despite these deaths. While walking through most footpaths in the city is a challenge in its own right – one has to navigate vendors, encroachments, among other hurdles – people, especially around monsoon, also have to avoid loose, dangling wires from poles and electrical installations.

Loose wires were seen sticking out of electricity poles at Minto road and DDU Marg. At New Friends Colony, exposed wires were seen sticking out of fuse boxes. Similarly, HT saw tangles of wires sticking out from poles at West Patel Nagar, Rani Bagh, Saraswati Vihar and Shakarpur, many of which were exposed.

Tuesday’s death, Delhi Police said, occurred when the victim slipped on a waterlogged street and grabbed the gate for support, getting electrocuted due to an exposed motor wire. HT on Tuesday saw the gate itself was covered in a bundle of wires, each of which could equally be a risk.

A problem far too common

Such poles were in front of every four or five houses in the lane across the city.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had said in 2021 that his intends to move all power cables underground. Though it is possible to relocate them underground, the process will require cavernous amounts of space, planning and will – all of which authorities seem to lack.

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“It is possible to shift them underground, but there is a tremendous cost involved. One will also need a lot of space at the neighbourhood level to lay them underground, space which is lacking now in most parts of the city,” a Delhi Transco Ltd (DTL) official, who did not wish to be identified, said, adding that cables are underground in Greater Noida, where such planning was done in advance.

A civic official, aware of the matter, said the problem is even worse in unauthorised colonies, where power thefts are common. “Not only does it lead to trippings, but is also a huge safety hazard,” the official said, adding in several cases, internet cables and other local wires are also added to poles, without taking the requisite permissions.

RWAs said the risk of electrocution is always there, but increases exponentially in the monsoon, and blame authorities for continuously passing the blame.

“It becomes more dangerous when there is waterlogging or when electrical installations get wet. However, seeing such wires is not a rare sight. In fact, in every street, one will be able to come across a few wires that may be loose, are cut or are simply hanging dangerously… The idea should be to carry out safety audits regularly,” said Sanjeev Bhatnagar, a former RWA president from Prasad Nagar, adjacent to Patel Nagar. “We also need a mechanism to periodically check private meters and wires in people’s homes. In the monsoon, electricity leakage can easily occur.”

BS Vohra, the joint front president of east Delhi RWAs echoes these fears.

“We see that almost every other pole has a wire hanging dangerously. The first goal must be to fix waterlogging, particularly around electricity poles and installations. The second, we need regular drives and the RWAs can help any agency involved to identify dangerous poles,” he said.

Delhi’s power distribution companies (discoms), however, insist their teams ensure any exposed wires or dangerous installations – prone to waterlogging, are fixed immediately.

BSES, which supplies electricity to south, west, east and central Delhi through its subsidiaries, said the monsoon brings its own challenges, with waterlogging, strong winds and falling branches often damaging electrical infrastructure. It said advisories are issued to residents before the monsoon season, as well as during it, which urges consumers to take precautionary measures, which includes staying away from poles, transformers and substations when it is raining, etc.

A BSES spokesperson said safety drives are being carried out across the city, as is done before monsoon as well. “Safety Inspections are being carried out on electrical equipment, including sub-stations, feeder pillars, distribution boxes, and fencing across BSES areas to identify and rectify hazardous conditions, if any, and ensure the safety of the infrastructure,” the spokesperson said.

Tata Power DDL, which supplies power around north and northwest Delhi, also said it was carrying out special drives to identify and fix leakage of electricity. “To minimise incidents related to electrocution, Tata Power-DDL has implemented several proactive measures. One of the key initiatives is our leakage check drive is conducted across our area of operations. Every year, we undertake a special leakage testing drive that covers public installations such as poles, fencing and grills of MCD/DDA parks, streetlight panels, and ATMs,” said a TPDDL spokesperson.

It said for the financial year 2023-24, the drive was carried out across 206,273 points, identifying leakage at 144 locations and damaged earthing in 33 cases. “All identified discrepancies were repaired on the spot. Continuing with this drive, as of July 2024, we have inspected 55,221 points, finding current leakage in 36 cases, which were rectified immediately,” the spokesperson added.