Dangling switchboards and exposed live wires have been properly insulated and covered up on the Ranchi civil court premises days after The Telegraph reported about the potential jolt threat to visitors.
Swinging into action after the report published by this newspaper on July 22, the civil administration has pulled up the concerned contractor and officials of Jharkhand Urja Vikash Nigam Ltd for leaving the gaping switchboards unattended. They were warned of action in case of any mishap due to electrocution.
A visit to the civil court premises on Kutchery Chowk on Thursday revealed that the gaps had been plugged and the naked wires removed.
The seven-acre civil court premises has three buildings while a fourth is under construction. The open switchboards dot the ground floor of the building that houses the special CBI courts of Shivpal Singh, Pradeep Kumar, B.K. Tiwari, Kumari Ranjana Asthana and Taufiqul Hassan. Lalu is appearing before the courts of Shivpal Singh and Pradeep Yadav in fodder scam cases.
"The moment the matter was brought to my notice, I summoned the concerned contractor and the junior engineer of the electricity department. I did a physical survey of all the court buildings and instructed them to fix the problems immediately," civil court registrar Lakshmikant said, adding that an electric wiring work was underway from the past few months.
Thanking this newspaper for highlighting the potential threat, Lakshmikant said wires and cables should not be left open in part of the building. "It can lead to fatalities anytime because over 10,000 people visit the court everyday besides officials, prisoners and lawyers. The contractor and the engineer were categorically told that the negligence was tantamount to criminal misconduct," he added.
A junior lawyer, who did not want to be named, said he was pleasantly surprised to find that the loose switchboards had been fixed.
"The registrar is very proactive and takes note of even minor issues. The matter had not come to his notice earlier. Some of the switchboards with open wires were hanging low enough to electrocute anyone who came in contact with them," he said.
