RAWALPINDI: With the monsoon round the corner, uncovered electric wires hanging from lampposts in streets and roads, especially in narrow streets of the garrison city, are posing threat to residents.

A visit to the city areas showed that wires were hanging close to houses. At many points, uncovered joints on lampposts can also cause major incidents in case of gusty winds and heavy rains.

Dangling wires on main roads are also a threat to motorists and passersby in case of a stormy weather. In most of the new colonies, electricity wires are laid underground.

In the beginning of the new year, the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) had started reconstruction of Adamjee Road and asked the Islamabad Electric Supply Company (Iesco) to shift underground all wires hanging along the road but the latter failed to do so.

In the narrow streets of Dhoke Ratta, uncovered hanging wires posed threat to the residents. The residents demanded that Iesco and the government should organise the wires if laying them underground was not possible.

Mohammad Anwar, a resident of Dhoke Ratta, said some lampposts were installed very near to houses which were dangerous.

He said residents had lodged complaints with Iesco to repair the poles and organise the hanging wires but to no avail.

“Streets along Tauheedi Road are marred by electric poles and uncovered live wires,” he said.

Naseer Raja, a resident of Tauheedi Road, said a lamppost was very close to his house and the wires were loosely hanging near the walls. He said at some places, transformers were also uncovered. Many times sparks from the transformers have fallen on passersby.

Mohanpura is no different from Dhoke Ratta. The area became a commercial hub where most houses have now been converted into godowns for City Saddar Road shops. The hanging wires if not properly organised can cause fire in the congested area.

Shahmir Malik, a resident of Mohanpura, said trucks frequented the area to load and unload goods in the godowns and hit the electric wires hanging on the road, some time leading to power outages.

He said during rain and winds, Iesco just shut down the power supply creating problems for the residents.

Nasir Gondal, a resident of Nayya Mohallah, said most uncovered electricity wires were posing threat to the residents and the concerned authorities were waiting for an accident to happen.

He said a donkey was electrocuted on Iqbal Road last month as it had taken shelter near two electricity poles. “We have stopped children from going out during rain,” he said.

Despite repeated attempts, Iesco spokesman Raja Asim could not be contacted for comments.

However, last week Iesco in a press release had stated that in the light of instructions issued by the Ministry of Energy and Iesco Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Chaudhry Abdul Razzaq, power lines passing over or close to houses were being shifted to safer locations and Iesco was bearing all the expenses for the safety work.

It said 8,140 such points had been identified by Iesco field formations and customers and 7,447 dangerous points were secured by Iesco operations and construction directorates at a cost of of Rs1,252,742 million.

But in the garrison city no action has been seen till date.

When contacted, Subdivisional Officer (SDO) Asad Gondal told Dawn that Iesco was working to identify the lampposts and hanging wires near houses.

“We change it immediately on the request of the citizens.”

He said Iesco tried its best to provide better services to the customers and organise all the messy wires. He said such work was mostly done in the winter season and the remaining would be done soon.

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2021