M HYDERI
Srinagar, Nov 30: After stray dogs, rats seem to be taking Srinagarites for a ride. In one such incident Wednesday the rodents sneaked into a 20 MVA Receiving Station at Raj Bagh leading to a major power failure, which left a vast area  of south City void of electricity.
 The incident occurred in the morning hours when a bang could be heard in the Receiving Station and plumes of smoke started rising out from a particular Breaker Pannel, a high voltage circuitry, which manages power regulation.
 The  south City was reeling under darkness till late in the evening when reports last poured in.

THE INTRUSION
 Insiders at the Receiving Station said the plumes of black smoke were so huge that fire-fighters were likely to be called in. But within a few moments the smoke subsided. But by that time electricity to a vast expanse of south City including Raj Bagh, Jawahir Nagar, Gogji Bagh and Wazir Bagh was snapped.
 A team of Power Development Department(PDD) engineers rushed to the spot and the Breaker Pannel was opened to check the fault.
 The team found that a tiny rat, no bigger than a cockroach, had sneaked into the box and lead to short circuit. Its roasted carcass was immediately thrown away and repairs started.
 The station staff, however, said it was not for the first time that rats had caused a power breakdown adding that the presence of rodents had become a recurring problem in the City stations.

THE JOKE
As electricity couldn’t be resumed till afternoon the affected residents started calling the concerned office. And the moment they came to know about the cause of the breakdown, it turned out to be a crude joke.

STING OPS
 This correspondent pretended to be "Pied Pipper", a local representative of a rodent catching firm to manage entry into the Receiving Station.
 The moment I offered them a solution to get rid of rats, they were courteous enough to make me have a round of the place.
 “See how a tiny rat of the size of a cockroach can lead to power failure… It had managed entry into the bus,” explained a staffer as his colleagues were busy with the repair work.
 “We’ve been working continuously to rectify the fault. But instead of appreciating our relentless work, as usual, people must have been cursing us,” said an elderly mechanic with a smile on his face while rolling some tape on thick copper scale.
 The staff said rats had become a serious problem for places like receiving stations. “It’s not for the first time that rats have caused power failure but keeps happening,” confided a PDD official working in Civil Secretariat.

RATS GOING ALARMING
 Like stray dogs, Srinagar seems to have become a safe place for the rodents. Sometime back the officials of Irrigation and Flood Control  department  complained that presence of rats on the Jhelum banks, particularly in the City, has made the embankments fragile making them vulnerable to cracks during rains. To make furrows, the officials said, rats have penetrated deep into the banks.
 But ironically till now the government seems to be sleeping over the rat issue much like it did over dogs, over one lakh of whom prowl in the summer Capital while on an average some 14 people fall victim to canine bites.

OFFICIALS SPEAK
 When contacted the concerned PDD officials said the Receiving Station snag was being rectified adding that it was “only a technical fault.” “It (receiving station) functions like car, which develops snags anytime,” the official explained.

BOTTOMLINE
As for observers aware of the emerging rat menace, they fear the rodents too may soon add to the list of animals whose rights are pleaded by organizations like Society for Prevention of Cruelty against Animals.
 “We can’t get rid of dogs, same may soon be true for rats and instead of any killings, their sterilization may be sought,” quipped a senior official.
 But then, what about the life of people living in this summer Capital which has an alarming population of dogs while rats too seem to be emerging as potential threat?

Lastupdate on : Wed, 30 Nov 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 30 Nov 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 1 Dec 2011 00:00:00 IST