Times of India | 4 days ago | 25-11-2022 | 02:40 am
Panaji: The destruction of two shacks in Calangute two days ago indicates the need for safety measures to be taken by operators to avoid a repeat of such incidents. Calangute beach receives the highest footfalls in the state. Last season, two fire incidents at beach shacks were reported, one each at North and South Goa.While the fire incident occurred post midnight and no human loss was reported, the cause of the blaze is still unknown. However, it is suspected that a short circuit was the probable reason. A decade ago, most shacks would operate with rudimentary electrical appliances, while a single-phase connection would suffice to meet their requirements. Now, most operators apply for three-phase connections, a power department official said.Apart from a mixer grinder and a few light fixtures, several shacks run three to four refrigerators, electrical decor inside and outside the shack, a high-tech music system, big LCD TVs, besides other small appliances. In the past few years, decorative lighting has also caught the imagination of operators and they extensively embellish their shacks.“Mostly fires happen due to short circuits in equipment, or when shacks use extensions and put up decorative lighting,” the power department official said.“A shack operator can use any number of appliances, and all connections have a miniature circuit breaker (MCB), so any overloading will cause the MCB to trip. Fires don’t happen because of overloading. At 3am, it is unlikely there was overloading,” he said.Higher the sanctioned load, the more shack allottees have to shell out as fees as temporary power connections given to the operators are fixed at higher rates than normal connections. The electricity department, the official said, conducts a safety inspection every year before giving connections to the shacks. A shack operator refuted claims that they are careless, and emphasised that taking precautions is in their interest, which most of them follow. John Lobo, secretary, Shack Owners’ Welfare Society (SOWS), said that operators have to run electrical appliances at the shacks, and most of them pay hefty power bills in the range of Rs 20,000-45,000 a month. “We pay higher charges than others, and all have taken legitimate connections. The usage of more than two fridges is necessary as using ice every day to store fish is expensive,” he said.The electrical decor, he added, is part of the competition, and unless they don’t use this, guests will not step into their shacks.
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