25 years on, EB poles stand in way of development in Vellore village

VELLORE: A real estate agent who developed a residential layout in Sriramnagar in Kuppam village panchayat 7 km from Vellore laid a cement road with cement EB poles in the middle resulting in locals suffering 25 years later now, sources said.

Panchayat president N Suryakala told DT Next, “my predecessor, years ago, K Booshanammal provided a no objection certificate (NOC) that 2.17 cents dry land could be used to develop housing plots resulting in the developer laying a cement road with two power poles in the middle.”

Resident Nagaraj who helps in the panchayat said, “we procured 20 cement poles for Rs 3,500 and also received permission to replace corroded poles in the recent sabha meet, but what irks us is that Tangedco is now demanding Rs 35,000 to shift one pole about 4 feet and another Rs 7,500 to shift the other pole about two feet. With the panchayat already strapped for funds we do not know what to do.”

Elaborating Suryakala said, “When we approached the lay out developer and demanded that he shell out the Rs 42,500 he cooly replied that he could do nothing as he had left the area after selling all the plots.”

Former panchayat ward member Dasarathan said, “this street is crucial and as there are no street lights, outsiders coming here on two wheelers hit either of the poles regularly. Three months ago, a hearse carrying a corpse toppled when the driver tried to navigate through both the poles.”

Tangedco sources revealed that “the high cost to remove the poles was due to the pole in addition to the local low tension (LT) line was also carrying a high tension (HT) line which was costly to shift and replace as a separate pole could not be allotted for this.”