PANAJI
The Electricity Department will soon shore up the personal safety equipment for its field staff including linesmen and line-helpers with the procurement of smart helmets and smart watches designed by the Goa Engineering College, Farmagudi, The plan which has been in the works for some time got hastened up after recent accidents involving the department’s field staff, some tragic, earned it scathing criticism for not paying adequate attention to their safety.
Power Minister Ramkrishna (Sudin) Dhavalikar said the safety gear for linesmen, line-helpers and other field staff will have these additional items “ a smart watch and a smart helmet “ very soon.
He said the department’s top officials are working out the modalities of procurement, including the quantities of these safety gear items which are designed by the GEC.
Dhavalikar’s department had come under fire from Opposition politicians as well as civil society for making their field staff work in dangerous conditions without being provided adequate safety gear.
In the recently concluded monsoon session too, several MLAs from the Opposition as well as the treasury benches, had even raised questions about the poor quality raincoats supplied to the staff for use on the field during the monsoon.
Dhavalikar had however denied these claims and clarified that the staff had been given better quality rainwear as well as safety implements.
In official records before the power sector watchdog “ Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission “ the department has claimed that often staffers out of “overconfidence” neglect wearing the personal protective equipment while working on charged electricity lines.
