The sub station of Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited (KPTCL) was on fire between 6.30pm and 8pm yesterday. Coincidentally, when we uploaded a story yesterday about how the Bangalore Electric Supply Company (Bescom) is coming under fire from the residents for outages and fluctuations that have damaged electronic equipment, one resident pointed out that the actual power sub station on 27th Main could actually be on fire.
At 12.30pm, Krishna Kumar Puravoor reacted to our story in a WhatsApp group saying, “I am seeing a considerable amount of dry grass in the KPTCL compound which is highly inflammable in the light of recent fire incidents. They should clear those grass lands.” Six hours later, the compound was actually on fire due to the dry grass getting ignited by what some Bescom officials suspect could be a cigarette butt. No less than Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) Isha Pant rushed to the spot and asked the concerned authorities to ensure that the fire does not happen again. She has asked Bescom and BBMP to clear the compound of any other impediments that could cause a fire in the future.
It is to be recalled that during the time of Diwali, on the night of November 7, this same portion had caught fire. However, it was controlled as soon as alert residents called up the authorities and alerted them about the fire. Clearly, the KPTCL authorities had not learnt any lesson from this and it happened again. Therefore, this time around, the cops are writing a letter to the BBMP Joint Commissioner to ensure that grass is regularly cut to prevent any more fire breakouts. Better late than never.
