Mahamaham: Underground cables for safety

KUMBAKONAM: Taking extra care to ensure full safety for several lakh visiting pilgrims, underground cables are being laid around the ‘Mahamaham’ tank at Kumbakonam to take electric wires to houses and other buildings like marriage halls, in view of the forthcoming ‘Mahamaham’ festival to be held on February 22, 2016, hailed as the ‘Kumbh Mela’ of the South.

“We are doing away with overhead electric lines and are laying underground cables as a safety measure in view of the crowd expected to take a holy dip in the Mahamaham tanks,” said engineers of the Tamil Nadu Generation Distribution Corporation (Tangedco).

Cables were laid for a distance of 1.7 km around the tank and in total, 3.4 km including connections taken to houses and other establishments. A pillar-box will be put up in the houses to reach the underground wire. The cost of the project is Rs 1.7 crore and the work was expected to be completed by this month-end, engineers said. With respect to streetlights maintained by the Kumbakonam municipality, they are working with underground cables already. The municipality has laid underground cables to take electric wires to the lights installed around the ‘Mahamaham’ tank.

The Tangedco is fencing transformers at vantage points as a safety measure. New transformers and wires have already been installed at various places in the temple town.

Mr K. Gnanadesikan, chief secretary of Tamil Nadu, inspected the laying of underground cables around the tank on Sunday.

He also inspected the inlets bringing water to the tank, the government college for women where additional police personnel being brought for the festival are going to stay, the helipad, etc. He asked officials to make all arrangements for the stay of police personnel and for people to take a holy dip in the ‘Potramarai tank’ during the festival.

Officials including Chandrasekar, district revenue officer and Govinda Rao, sub-collector, accompanied the chief secretary during the inspection.