Uttar Pradesh: Six people killed due to lightning strikes in Azamgarh

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Six people were killed and one child got injured after being struck by lightning in Uttar Pradesh's Azamgarh district on Tuesday. District Administration said that five people died in Barwa Sagar which comes under Mehnagar police station and in another similar incident one person died in the Maharajganj area of the district.

"So far six people have been electrocuted in the district, one child is injured, whose treatment is going on. Family members of all the deceased will be provided with a fixed amount within 24 hours," District Magistrate Vishal Bhardwaj said. Earlier on Tuesday Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expressed grief over the deaths that occurred in the Azamgarh and Ghazipur districts, due to lightning strikes.

The Chief Minister also announced a relief amount of Rs 4 lakh for the deceased's family members. In addition, he also directed for the proper treatment of the injured. With an aim to prevent electricity-related accidents during monsoon, the Yogi government, last month, issued a set of guidelines for the department officials, which include rectifying faults occurring during rainfall and adhering to prescribed standards in maintenance work.

M Devraj, Chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL), has issued directives to prevent accidents, involving especially outsourced workers of the Electricity department during the monsoon season and has directed officials to ensure strict compliance with the directives. The Chairman has stated that the training of outsourced workers should be organized as soon as possible by scheduling it in each distribution area and at the divisional level through the Discoms.

As the occurrence of local faults increases during rainfall, posing a risk of accidents, the Government has instructed electrical workers involved in distribution to exercise caution and follow specific precautions to prevent accidents. The Government has also warned of strict action as per the rules in case of negligence on the part of an official that leads to an accident.

The guidelines include an arrangement of safety equipment as per the prescribed safety standards for outsourced personnel deployed through the outsourced agency at each 33/11 KV sub-stations, including helmets, gloves, pliers, safety belts, earth chains, safety shoes, ensuring that each gang has the necessary safety equipment during line work.

In accordance with the directives, it has been stated that the chief engineer, superintending engineer, executive engineer, assistant engineer, and junior engineer of the distribution area will be responsible for inspecting the safety equipment on residential premises and ensuring its availability as well as provision to the workers by the outsourcing agency.

The respective chief engineer will be responsible for informing the corporation headquarters about this through their discom. If the outsourcing agency fails to provide the safety equipment, the respective superintendent engineer will be held responsible, the release stated.

The concerned officials will also ensure that the outsourced workers use safety equipment, it stated. He further directed that wherever such accidents occur, necessary arrangements should be made for the complete care and treatment of the injured employees, and timely payment of the entitled compensation should also be ensured in accordance with the rules.

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