Powerless in the hand of FIFA fans, KSEB staff put up messages, posters warning against assault

In a football-crazy state where people are religiously glued to their TV sets during matches, KSEB employees have realised not to take complain of disruptions in power supply lightly.

Kerala, Kerala football fans, Kerala power supply, KSEB, Kerala State Electricity Board, FIFA world cup, football world cup, Indian Express news

KSEB is circulating a poster on social media reminding people about the charges and jail sentences they could attract if they assaulted government employees.

The months of June and July are always a testing period for the employees of the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB), which supplies power to over one crore consumers in the state. This is the time when the southwest monsoon comes calling with fierce squalls of rain uprooting power-lines and unleashing extensive damage on the Board’s infrastructure. And when power supply goes off, harried consumers phone the section offices to complain of disruptions, post which linesmen are sent to fix the damage. If the disruption is not fixed on time, incidents of violence get reported, with locals even rampaging the section offices or assaulting the linesmen.

This year, KSEB employees, especially the officer working the complaint phones and the linesmen on the field, have a new problem on their hands: FIFA football world cup. Over the last two weeks, they have been seeing messages, mainly on Facebook and WhatsApp, from football fans warning them to remain alert especially on match days. In a football-crazy state where people are religiously glued to their TV sets during matches, KSEB employees have realised not to take such messages lightly. So, in response, they have been circulating a poster on social media reminding people about the charges and jail sentences they could attract if they assaulted government employees. Many of these charges are non-bailable offences, the poster pointed out.

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“We fear for our lives. They must understand that we do not intentionally cut power supply. There is no on/off switch at the section offices. But the minute, power goes off, people rush to our offices,” said Balakrishnan, a KSEB employee in Ernakulam, who handles the complaint phone.

“It’s bad for us that the world cup has come right in the middle of the rainy season,” he added.

Employees like Balakrishnan are also sending messages through WhatsApp to calmly explain to people how a power disruption occurs and the time it requires for a linesman to fix the fault and restore supply. One such message reads, “Power supply gets disrupted due to faults on high-tension or low-tension wires. Even if a small branch falls on a high-tension wire that extends for over 100 kilometres, supply could get disrupted affecting nearly 10000 consumers. Does rain or winds know when is Onam, Ramzan or the football world cup?”.

The message, also in a sentimental tone, pleads to football fans, “Just like you, many among us are die-hard fans of football teams. We also want to spend match-nights cheering with you, but we know our responsibilities. That’s why, we spend sleepless nights, working the phones and ensuring disruptions don’t occur, and if they do, to fix them on time.”

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Pradeep, the Alappuzha-district working president of the INTUC-affiliated KSEB workers’ union, said he understood the problems that the employees face. “Our union has not authorised these posters or messages, but I have seen them on social media. In Alappuzha, we have had instances of employees being assaulted and detained by locals. Obviously, during a disruption, we cannot work in a hurry because we have to look at safety aspects. You don’t know where these lines come and go, so we have to do proper earthing before we fix it. But people don’t understand this,” he said.

He added that the shortage of linesmen is also a glaring problem with fewer linesmen deputed to higher-density areas. “Ideally, there should be 20 linesmen for 28000 consumers, but now, there are only 14 out of whom some have medical problems and go on leave. We have raised these issues, but the Board hasn’t done anything,” he said.

For Balakrishnan, this World Cup definitely is a stress-buster. But he adds with confidence that the KSEB is making a lot of technological advancements to reduce disruptions in future. “We are working on new technologies. We will have ABC conductors which are basically three-or-four covered and insulated cables tied together. This will strengthen our system and will prevent small accidents. By the next World Cup, we will solve a lot of these problems so we will be ready,” he said.