CHENNAI: Despite gangmen not being trained to attend to repair works, a worker of Tangedco was electrocuted when he was made to attend repair on a power line on Wednesday. The deceased has been identified as K Jagadish (32), a native of Tirunelveli. Sources said the gangman was made to climb the pole of a high-tension power line around 3.30 am at Pazhavanthangal though a line man was accompanying him.
Workers alleged the authorities often make gangmen, who are meant to be engaged only in unskilled jobs, do the work of line men putting their lives at risk. According to official sources, over 30 gang men were killed while on such high-risk jobs in the last two years.
Responding to a query from TNIE, a senior Tangedco official said, “No compensation would be provided to gang men. We are investigating the incident.”
When questioned why a gang man was made to work on a power line, the official declined to respond. He said the corporation is working on a mobile application for the safety of field workers.
Upon hearing about Jagadish’s death, union workers staged a protest, urging compensation for Jagadish’s family in front of the Tangedco office in KK Nagar.
According to Tangedco sources, Jagadish switched off the power supply from one section but failed to do so for the other where the power supply from two sections converged.
R Saravanakumar, state general secretary of the Bharatiya Electricity Employees Federation, told TNIE, “In the past couple of months alone, three gang men were electrocuted in Tiruchy, Pudukkottai, and Coimbatore. These employees do not have any benefits, including casual leave, medical leave, sick leave, and so on.”
Saravanakumar questioned why the power utility assigns gang men to work on power lines. In response to an RTI inquiry by P Arulraj of Thoothukudi on April 9, 2022, Tangedco had said “Section officers (engineers) are responsible for assigning various tasks to gang men, including digging holes for installing poles, transportation of poles physically, etc.”
Despite the clear guidelines, inside sources said an alarming 80% of power line tasks in the state are being carried out by gangmen.
“The only solution is to fill thousands of vacancies,” said Saravanakumar.
A Sekkizhar, State General Secretary of TNEB Employees Federation, voiced concern over the situation, and said, “Despite union pleas, Tangedco continues to assign power line tasks to gang men, who are not even eligible for compensation as they lack permanent employment status.”
He also urged decisive action in favour of the employees.
The police, upon receiving information, recovered Jagadish’s body and sent it for postmortem. A case has been registered, and an inquiry is underway.