Amidst the blame game over the Ganjam bus tragedy that claimed 10 lives on February 9, the Rural Works Engineer-in-Chief on Thursday wrote a letter to the Energy Department Commissioner-cum-Secretary asking him to take written consent of the field Executive Engineers before any kind of electrical installation on the roads belonging to the Rural Development (RD) Department. In the letter, the Engineer-in-Chief mentioned that installations of electric pole and transformers within the Right of Way of RD roads are being undertaken by the Energy Department without any intimation to the concerned Executive Engineers. The unauthorised installations have caused delay in taking up Government works by the RD Department; and in later stage, shifting of the said utilities are insisted upon the RD Department, which is a financial burden to the Government exchequer.
“It is also observed that such electrical installations are being done on the carriageway or on the shoulders of the road, which restricts the future expansion proposals of the roads,” the letter stated.
The Engineer-in-Chief urged the Energy Commissioner to ensure that written consent of field Executive Engineers of the RD Department is taken prior to any electrical installation to be done in future. And such utilities should be installed on utility corridors beyond the toe line of the road embankments, the letter added.
