By Express News Service HYDERABAD: WITH Ganpati set to visit this year on September 2, preparations for Vinayaka Chaturthi have begun across the city. Considering the scale of the festivities in Hyderabad and the sheer number of people involved, prevention of disasters is also going hand-in-hand with preparations. Officials of the fire and electricity departments have cautioned all Ganesh Utsav Committees in the city to stay away from illegal electricity connections at their pandals, considering short-circuits have been the most common cause of fire mishaps in the past. Only two years back, a ganesh pandal in Mangalghat was gutted in a fire that started due to an electric short circuit. There was no fire-preparedness at the pandal. “It is mostly in slum areas that people do not comply with the rules. Moreover, they install power connection on their own without any safety concerns,” said an electricity department official. In most cases, they don’t even take requisite permissions from the police department, the official added. As per rules, the enthusiasts who want to erect a pandal need to take a demand draft in favour of electricity department and seek permission from the police by submitting a copy of the demand draft. However, it is alleged that people bribe the electricity linemen instead, to get a connection. But disputing such allegations, the superintending engineer of TSSPDCL, Narsimha Swamy said, “As the permissions for a temporary electricity connection for such a festival is quite cheap, only `500 per connection, people make the payments and take connections.” The fire and electricity department authorities have appealed to the Ustav Committees to take all precautionary measures to prevent untoward incidents. Swamy has suggested the Utsav committees to use a standard service power cable to minimise chances of a short-circuit. A fire or electric shock can break out from the decorative lightings, especially due to use of high-voltage lights, he added.

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