Times of India: Surat: Friday, September 20, 2013.
They may be the most sought after for the next
fortnight of Shradhh starting Friday when people would feed them delicacies and
treat them as their ancestors visiting their households, but right now the
crows in Surat are being blamed for power cuts in posh areas like New City
Light, City Light, Althan and Vesu. They are accused of causing no less than 170 cuts in the last six months.
It was when the residents of City Light started
listing when they had to go without power 20 times that it came to light
that apart from the uprooted trees, the crows were also responsible for them.
Dakshin Gujarat Vij Company Limited (DGVCL) claim to have found that crows
sitting on one of the transformers in Althan division led to frequent power
cuts.
They explained that in Althan area a garbage
collection container is placed near a transformer. "In the container there
is also the left over of non vegetarian food items and a number of crows come
to eat them. The crows pick up small pieces and sit on the transformer. As they
eat, small pieces fall on the transformer and this leads to tripping. This
process continues throughout the day leading to several cuts," said B V
Gohil, deputy engineer at Althan division.
He said that the DGVCL has requested Surat
Municipal Corporation ( SMC) to shift the container elsewhere. The residents of
Surya Darshan in City Light had even filed an application under Right to
Information (RTI) to find out the reason for the cuts. "Despite our filing
the RTI application, the problem was not solved," said Ashok Kejriwal, a
resident of Surya Darshan.
Local MLA Harsh Sanghvi, too, has been apprised of
the problem. "I have raised the issue in a recent meeting with officials.
In some cases the power loss was reported more than 20 times in 24 hours," he said.
The repetitive complaints have also led the DGVCL
officials to replace electricity lines and upgrade the transformers.
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