The wire: Living under the shadow of 11,000 volts

Three high-transmission wires pass over Bihari Colony, endangering residents

PESHAWAR:

Low-hanging high voltage electric cables criss-crossing the city’s Bihari Colony are posing a threat to hundreds of residents who have to pass under them every day on their way to schools, work and then back home.

Three transmission lines with a combined strength of 11,000 volts run through the locality situated near Warsak Road. Such is the danger that five years ago, a 12-year-old boy from the neighbourhood was electrocuted to death while flying a kite on his roof; his kite’s thread had gotten stuck in the cables.

Magnetic flux

The cables hang low in certain areas where they almost touch the roofs of some 10-12 double-storey houses and the boundary walls of two primary schools.

According to locals, since the wires are hanging low, anyone standing too close to them might get electrocuted; a fear not unfounded. “With such high voltage lines the minimum distance that one should maintain is at least 30 feet. Anything less than that and a person might get pulled to the wire because of its magnetic flux and get electrocuted,” said an electrical engineer, Muhammad Obedullah Tufail, who works in K-Electric in Karachi over the telephone.

Self-help

Greatly concerned by situation, Zahid Ali, a retired government employee, paid Rs10,000 from his own pocket to install a wooden pole in his neighbourhood three years ago to ensure the wires do not touch the houses and remain atop the pole.

It was not easy for Ali to spend that money since he is retired and is supported by his children. However, he felt the safety of his family members and his neighbours was of utmost importance.

From Bihari Colony, the transmission lines extend to a more developed neighbourhood which, although is within the colony, has residents who have managed to get rid of the wires passing above their houses. According to a local, after the boy was electrocuted, his father, who is a doctor by profession, complained to Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) and got the wires to pass from an area nearby where there are no houses. Their family also lived in the more developed part.

Those whose houses remain vulnerable said they have made several complaints to Pesco, but to no avail. They said the company addressed the complaint of the developed neighbourhood’s residents as they are more resourceful.

When contacted, Pesco Public Relations Officer Shaukat Azal said streets and neighbourhoods across the country have naked electric wires overhead, and if locals want to insulate them or shift them underground, they should seek help from their elected MPA since the process can cost thousands of rupees.

Zahid Ali said for the past 25 years, people have been living under the constant threat of electrocution. Even such vulnerability has not prompted families to relocate.

Local tales

The colony is named after the Bihari ethnic group, which came to Pakistan in 1972, after the separation of erstwhile East Pakistan, now known as Bangladesh. The people coming from East Pakistan were given refuge in different cities; some shifted to Peshawar from Karachi.

Ali recalls the time when the area started to sprawl and spread as more and more Biharis settled here. “There were around 330 families back then who were housed in a training centre.

But, with the passage of time the government of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto started issuing identity cards to Biharis and hiring them in government departments,” he said. “This helped them sustain their families and soon they were given houses and so the colony was formed.”

Published in The Express Tribune, April 20^th, 2015.