This is with reference to the news item ‘Lucky escape for motorists as pole comes crashing down’ on TGE dated September 10, 2021. It was indeed luck that saved a human life. While driving or walking on the road, one would normally fear being thrown off balance and getting knocked down by ditches or craters on the road or rash driving or maybe the odd tree falling down. But here we have yet another concern, an electric pole falling across the road. According to the news report, the pole that came crashing down on the busy Benaulim road was an unused, rusted electric pole with some cable dangling, not even an electric cable. It would have definitely claimed a life. This brings us down to the issue of maintenance. Just as the roads need to be maintained by the civic authorities, they need to keep a check on other things such as street lights and the entire infrastructure in general.
