Muvattupuzha: A banana farmer here bore the brunt of apparent high-handedness by the on-field personnel of the Kerala State Electricity Board Limited. He lost as many as 400 banana trees that were nearing harvest as the KSEB employees indiscriminately felled them claiming they were grazing 220 kV power transmission line above his farm.
K Thomas, the farmer, alleged that he did not get any warning or notice from the KSEB.
Crops were cultivated at the same place under the tower line last year too. It was harvested without any trouble then.
The loss is estimated to be about Rs 4 lakh, he added.
The KSEB staff chopped down the crop even without informing Thomas who stays hardly 500 metre away from the farm located at Varappetty, near the Kandampuzha Lift Irrigation Project.
As per norms short-term crops including plantain can be cultivated under 220 KV lines. Permission is also granted even to build a house under a tower line by ensuring a stipulated distance from the line.
The rule only says that trees that grow tall must not be cultivated under the line.
Thomas and his son Aneesh had raised the banana crop here. They were set to be harvested ahead of the Onam season when raw bananas are in great demand.
A few KSEB personnel from the Line Maintenance Sub-Division Office (LMS) at Moolamattom felled the crop last Friday. The officials of the local KSEB office at Varappetty were not aware of this action.
The KSEB higher officials at Moovattupuzha came to know of the incident only when Varappetty Panchayath president mentioned it during the Taluk Development Committee meeting on Saturday.
The LMS office defended the action claiming that the banana trees had grown tall and came into contact with the power line and had caught fire. This had caused disruptions in the power supply, the officials said.
