An electric wire, entwined by a wild creeper, dangles precariously in Motihari. Picture by Ajit Kumar Verma

Poles leaning with wires dangling around dangerously, not a scene in the aftermath of a storm but a reality for residents of this town.

Outdated and ill-maintained infrastructure have driven residents to raise fingers at the electricity department for its alleged apathy. Strengthening the weak power infrastructure in the town seems to be the last thing on the mind of power department officials, exposing residents’ lives and property to danger.

The power situation has improved to justify the recent tariff rate implemented from the present financial year. But the department is yet to wake from its slumber and is testing the residents’ patience with ramshackle infrastructure, including poles and wires that require immediate replacement.

A day before chief minister Nitish Kumar started his four-day Seva Yatra in this district on April 20, a tailor’s shop and around six parked motorcycles were gutted after a high-tension supply wire snapped and fell on the busy station road.

Shop owner Mohammad Mustafa and his two-year-old son had a miraculous escape in the accident.

However, more than two weeks after Nitish concluded his Seva Yatra and left the district, energy department officials are yet to take up the matter seriously.

The dangling wires from the leaning poles that dot the town roads run the risk of catching fire at any moment. The supply wires have got concealed behind wild undergrowth and overgrown trees, which might lead to accidents.

A senior official of the department on condition of anonymity said: “The contract for replacing weak poles and wires besides strengthening the infrastructure was given to a contractor months ago. However, work has come to a standstill because of the vested interests of the majority of people who are functioning in connivance with the contractor.”

“At several places in the town, where the replacement work has been done, the situation has worsened. Old copper wires, which were functioning normally, were replaced with aluminium ones,” said a department personnel on condition of anonymity.

When asked, the superintending engineer of the department, Ram Sudin Singh told The Telegraph: “At present, the strengthening work of infrastructure has been stopped here and the same has been started in Dhaka sub-division.”

“Wherever replacement work is required in the district, we would take up the assignment on a priority basis,” he added.

Singh admitted that even before the rate of power tariff was increased this year, the graph of revenue collection went up and the department is expected to improve the infrastructure in favour of its consumers.

Meanwhile, the sub-divisional officer of the department, K.P. Ambastha, has invited suggestions from the media and common citizens regarding the weak poles and supply wires in the town.