Chennai: The death of the 59-year-old woman in Anna Nagar on Monday is neither an accident nor an act of god —it was an outcome of clear negligence by Tangedco and GCC who delayed replacing a damaged and exposed electric cable on the Second Avenue stretch for 25 days.On Aug 24, the woman fell into a pit dug-up for stormwater work and was electrocuted by a live wire.Tangedco was aware of the presence of the exposed live wire on July 31. Assistant engineer (operation and maintenance) Anna Nagar north wrote to the GCC assistant engineer of ward 103 on July 31 stating that the civic body had damaged the high-tension and low-tension power cables, and distribution pillar boxes (properties of TNPDCL), and that supply to consumers were affected. He said it caused long outages and brought consumer ill-will to TNPDCL.The assistant engineer wrote that the LT cable damages were unattended, and were deeply buried in concrete, making it difficult to fix without damaging the newly-laid stormwater drain. He requested the GCC to create provisions to lay cables inside the stormwater drains by providing L-shaped rod for a length of 1.25ft with an interval every 10 feet.The assistant engineer had named 11 spots at Second Avenue, Fourth Main Road, 20th Street, including MRF, Khazana, Roundtana, and the accident spot, the Anna Nagar Tower metro.He had flagged that four locations had fully damaged cables — four were partially damaged, two had multiple cable punctures and joint damages, and one had plinth damage. The official had also written that GCC workers did not coordinate with Tangedco during the work done in night hours.At the accident spot near Anna Nagar Tower metro, a high-tension line to a length of 90m was punctured. GCC executive engineer of Anna Nagar zone forwarded this letter to the contractor, executing the 17-crore stormwater drain work on the stretch, only on Aug 17. The letter directed the contractor to procure the items and speed up the drain work.The contractor purchased the items worth 6.45 lakh, according to the invoice, and gave them to the Tangedco assistant engineer on Aug 22 by 3.42pm. While Tangedco had about two full days to fix the mess, they did not.Arappor Iyakkam convener Jayaram Venkadesan said whoever dug the road must be held responsible. “GCC must have a system to procure the damaged items quickly. The process of Tangedco inspecting the spot, writing to GCC, and then fixing it, will cause a delay. Secondly, the need for the drain at the stretch itself must be investigated,” he said.GCC and Tangedco officials were unavailable for comment.
