Officials will be booked for negligence, says Khader

Mangaluru: Legislative assembly speaker UT Khader warned that officials concerned will be booked if their negligence leads to further loss of life. The speaker regretted the loss of three lives due to electrocution in rain- related incidents in the district recently. Khader was addressing officials of Mescom, public works and forest departments on precautions to be taken during monsoon at the Mescom corporate office on Sunday. He took serious objection to the lack of coordination between various govt departments on mitigating the monsoon fury. He said despite advancements in communication technology, the authorities are not taking precautionary measures and wait for untoward incidents to happen. He directed the officials to open a a separate helpline number to help people raise concerns like vulnerable electricity poles and trees and clear it on a war-footing even at the village level. “Efficient officers are the ones who take precautionary measures to ensure that there is no untoward incident,” he said.On the electrocution of two auto drivers near Rozario Church, a Mescom official said under the model subdivision project, all HT and LT lines are underground. However, with regard to streetlights, the MCC stressed that it would be taken up under the ADB project. DCF Anthony S Mariyappa said as part of the preparedness for the monsoon, the forest department had removed 476 dangerous trees in Dakshina Kannada, including 280 in Mangaluru city. However, he said in some places, even those trees that did not look dangerous fell down. Stating that the development in Mangaluru has reached saturation levels, the speaker advised the officials to focus on Ullal, Moodbidri and Mulki by mainly improving the electricity infrastructure. “Take up development works keeping in mind the population growth in the next 30 years. Come up with necessary proposals and I will talk to top officials and ministers concerned if you face hurdles,” he said.A Mescom official brought to the notice of the minister the issue of staff shortage, especially linemen. He said the staff scarcity has reached 50% and another 80 are in the waiting list. Deputy commissioner Mullai Muhilan MP asked Mescom MD Padmavathi not to give NOC for transfers, due to the staff shortage.The status of various ongoing projects and a new project proposal was reviewed. Officials informed the speaker about the land issue for setting up a 110KV station at Kaikara in Puttur. An official said 1,600 streetlight trippers are being installed within the MCC limits. Khader stressed on the need for awareness and the DC asked the Mescom officials to release simple and short awareness videos that will be widely circulated.