Engineers visit Mawphlang electrocution site
SHILLONG: Hundreds of old and rusty electric poles in the city stand precariously but Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL) does not have enough money to replace them all.
An official of MeECL said on Friday – a day after six members of a family, including an infant and a pregnant woman, died from electrocution in Mawphlang – that the State power company is “on the job” to address the issue but fund constraint is a problem.
Engineers from MeECL on Friday visited the locality where the electrocution took place on Thursday to inquire about the cause of the accident. A report on how the electrocution happened will be submitted soon, an MeECL official said.
On Friday, some residents complained that two electric poles in Pynthorumkhrah near Gandhi Buniyadi School are on the verge of collapsing and that calls were made to the complaint cell of the MeECL office in the area. However, the official who picked up the phone was not willing to take the complaint and said a letter with details of the electric poles should be submitted to the office on Monday. When the complainant insisted, the person took down the complaint and assured that the problem would be addressed.
There are also complaints that MeECL officials rarely pick up calls to the number 2222222 on Saturdays and Sundays and it is not known if the helpline is active 24×7 or functions only on weekdays.
Last week, a live wire snapped at Iewduh and shopkeepers in the area made several calls to the helpline that went unanswered.
