Electric poles are of poor quality, say Tiruppur activists

TIRUPPUR: A total of 402 damaged electric polls were replaced by  TANGEDCO in Tiruppur city since August. However, activists and the public claim there are many that need to be replaced.

Speaking to TNIE, S Palanikumar, a social activist said, “Though TANGEDCO has quick ways like toll-free lines to register complaints, they take a lot of time to inspect the site and replace the electric poles. A dozen of poles are damaged in Kumar Nagar along Avinashi Road, but those aren’t replaced or repaired yet. Not just this, I found many damaged electric poles in the city, which are not replaced while some are just coated with cement.”

All General Labour Welfare Association - General Secretary A Saravanan said, “Repairing and replacement of damaged poles is a major issue in the city and TANGEDCO officials delay the process. Besides, the electric poles aren’t strong now. In my search, I found that the iron rods inside the poles are tougher in the poles erected before 2005 than now. Earlier, electric poles took at least three months to be made. Now, it is only a matter of two or three days. I suspect these factors resulted in substandard poles.”

However, officials refuted the claims. A top official from TANGEDCO said, “We have replaced 402 damaged electric poles and 118 leaning poles since August. All concrete poles are tested and certified. So, the question of poor quality doesn’t arise. Besides, there are a number of reasons for poles getting damaged like vehicle collisions. We attend to all complaints related to damaged poles immediately as they can problems including snapping of overhead lines.”