Goa: Ceramic insulators replaced by plastic bottles on electricity poles

Due to the extreme shortage of ceramic insulators, the electricity department’s Sernabatim substation office in Goa was forced to use plastic bottles as insulators.

According to a report in The Times of India, the linesman from the substation passed the power transmission cable through the plastic bottles and tied it to the metal cross-bar on the electricity pole. Being a good resistor of electricity, plastic bottles were used as an insulator for protection. However, a serious downside of this 'shortcut' was the regular power cuts happening due to the short circuits. These plastic bottles get filled with rainwater in a few days. It results in constant friction caused between the bottles and the cables. The plastic solution then starts wearing out due to rain and the power cables comes in contact with the metal crossbar resulting in short circuits and eventual power outages.

Pio Furtado, panchayat ward member, said that the complaints made to the junior engineer have been yielded no results. He said, “Villagers are suffering due to this casual attitude.” Responding to the accusations, Orlando Gomes who is a junior engineer at Colva substation said,“There was a shortage of porcelain insulators, but a month back the stock was replenished and the problem will be rectified immediately.” This issue was also raised in the ongoing Assembly session by Margao MLA Digambar Kamat. He said that due to the shortage of power cables, people were told to buy it themselves or the department provided overhead connections instead of underground cabling to the households.