Come monsoon, and Delhi's markets become highly unsafe as wet, dangling wires threaten one and all and authorities pass the buck around. Geeta Gupta, Pritha Chatterjee, Naveed Iqbal and Shikha Sharma take a look at how businesses are run in the shadow of danger.
LAJPAT NAGAR MARKET
What was just a refugee colony in the 50s is now easily one of the most crowded spaces in the capital. The Lajpat Nagar central market has more than 70 shops and innumerable street vendors. Three children, all under the age of 16, have died of electrocution after coming into contact with low-lying high-tension wires or unshielded transformers over the past eight years.
"In recent years, high-tension wires with rubber casings have been installed, but every other day, cases of people getting electric shocks are reported from the area," a shopkeeper in central market said.
He said the likelihood of someone from the BSES office coming and repairing the line or pulling up the wires dangling low was nil.
The problem in the area, as many shopkeepers admit, are the illegal connections in the market. Most of them use hooks to draw electricity from the nearest pole, which goes unchecked.
Lajpat Nagar Residents' Welfare Association president Vijay Arora said the residents had first reported the incidents after the death of a ten-year-old child in January 2010. "There is no grievance redressal cell. We went to the BSES office in Nehru Place but no action has been taken till date," he said.
BSES RESPONSE
There are no electricity cables hanging low rooftops here. In certain places, residents have illegally extended their balconies thereby coming closer to the wires. "This is a violation of the minimum clearance required under CEA Safety Regulations, 2010, and the Electricity Act, 2003.
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