Violation of power grid safety corridor in Vinh city

(Baonghean) -The rainy and stormy season has arrived, protecting the safety corridor of the power grid is an urgent issue. However, currently in Vinh City there are many serious violations, with high risks of affecting people's lives and property, or causing local power outages in some places, if an incident occurs...

For many years now, the houses of many households in Block 8, Quan Bau Ward, Vinh City have been located under the 10KV line of the 977E 15.1 Hung Dong line, including electric poles located on land areas that have been granted land use right certificates to the people. The electric lines run through the houses of the people, with a distance of only 1.5-2m, the electric poles have been cracked, tilted, and are very easy to break, the electric wires can break and fall down on the houses of the people at any time.

Mr. Nguyen Huu Suu - Block 8, Quan Bau Ward said: "In previous years, this power line was broken, affecting the daily life and travel of many families. We, the people, always live in fear, especially during the rainy and stormy season. Through many meetings with voters of National Assembly and People's Council delegates at all levels, we have petitioned the government and the Electricity sector to take measures to resolve the issue, but so far it has not been implemented."

According to statistics from Vinh City Electricity, there are currently more than 50 residential areas and houses built right in the power grid safety corridor (HLATLĐ). The reason is that these households built houses right under the high-voltage HLATLĐ such as: Mr. Nguyen Van Thong in block 18, Quan Bau ward built a house, only 1.2m from the DZ 979 E 15.1 line, Mr. Le Hong Quang's household in block 13, Trung Do ward built a house 1.5m from the DZ 373E 15.7 line, some families on Nguyen Sy Sach street built houses only 0.2m from the power line; or a series of households on Ho Quy Ly street - Trung Do ward all built houses in violation of the regulations under Decree 106 of the Government "on protecting the safety of high-voltage power grid works".

Not only are housing constructions violating, but there are also places where people organize markets right under the high-voltage power poles. For example, Dung Quyet market, located on Tran Binh Canh street, block 1, Trung Do ward. After clearing the old market area on the railway, in 2010, people spontaneously formed a new market here. The dangerous thing is that 60 households hold a market right in the HLATLĐ area because there are 3 high-voltage power lines of 35KV running above the market. After receiving the notice from Vinh Electricity, Vinh city, Trung Do ward coordinated to carry out solutions to relocate the market according to the plan before July 1, 2013, but to this day it has not been completely resolved.

Due to subjectivity and failure to foresee serious accidents that may occur during construction of works in the HLATLĐ, there have been many unfortunate accidents in the past. Typically, on February 23, 2011, Mr. Dau Ngoc Anh in Block 6, Ha Huy Tap Ward, while having people build a house right under a 35KV power line, had an electrical short circuit that killed one person and seriously injured another.

The main reason for violations of labor safety regulations is that local authorities where power lines run through are lax in management. Worse, some places even issue red books and construction permits for houses and buildings to people right in the labor safety regulations.

According to regulations, before granting a license to an organization or individual to build new or expand or renovate a construction in the field of occupational safety and health, the licensing authority must require the investor to reach a written agreement with the power grid management unit on measures to ensure the safety of power lines during construction.

However, the coordination between authorities at all levels and the Electricity sector in detecting and handling violations is still not tight. Many projects are only discovered to have violated after they are completed, making handling difficult. In addition, some cases lack synchronization and overlap, and there is no consensus during the construction process, leading to the situation of "each doing their own thing", one sector destroying the other sector's construction, and there are cases of encroachment on underground cables, construction in high-voltage power lines... Another reason is that many households were granted land from 1975 - 1980, a time when land management was not strict and the planning of the Electricity sector was not synchronous, leading to the current situation where many households live right under high-voltage power lines.

Mr. Nguyen Minh Loan - Deputy Director of Vinh City Electricity said: "Vinh City Electricity has coordinated with local authorities to propagate and disseminate to each household about ensuring occupational safety and health. Local authorities must have the main responsibility in handling violations, because according to regulations, when detecting violations, the Electricity industry will draw up a record and hand it over to the locality for settlement. Therefore, without the cooperation of people and authorities where the power line passes, handling construction works that violate occupational safety and health will certainly encounter many difficulties.

In addition, the electricity industry is currently renovating the power line system, raising power poles, and burying the power system. However, with the large number of violations and the lack of funding for investment and upgrading the power system, handling is still limited.