BESCOM official indifferent towards death of a girl who stepped on live wire fallen inside her school premises; says such instances happen every year
BESCOM official indifferent towards death of a girl who stepped on live wire fallen inside her school premises; says such instances happen every year
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While Sunita's family was deep in mourning over her untimely death yesterday morning, BESCOM MD Mannivannan said that similar accidents do happen every year and that it was no big deal.
Deadly step: Sunita was going through the backyard of her school when
she stepped on this live wire
The arrogant and non-caring behaviour of the BESCOM officials has created a furor among residents in the area where the incident occurred, and other areas as well.
Sunita, a Class III student at the Government Higher Primary School in Chandra Layout, was going through the backyard of her school at 8 am when stepped on a live wire that had fallen on the ground.
When questioned by the bereaved family about the carelessness of the officials, the BESCOM engineers from the area were busy fighting jurisdictional issues.
Assistant Executive Engineer Hanumanthaiah from sub-division 8 claimed, "The area where the incident took place does not come under our jurisdiction."
When contacted, the Assistant Engineer Manjunath from the Chandra Layout sub-division mirrored the same statement. He said, "We are not responsible for this, the neighbouring department should take blame for it."
Taking for granted?
Though the blame game continued within the department, it was the hardened statements made by BESCOM MD P Mannivannan that set the alarm bells ringing.
"There are about 300 such deaths every year and many such similar accidents. I cannot sit and look at every case. Nothing can be done about this incident as it was an accident," Mannivannan said.
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He added, "We will start a formal enquiry and a retired judge will be appointed. In case any official from our department is found to be on the wrong side, a disciplinary hearing will be initiated. All we can do is send them new wires, but that will cost crores. We will try to minimize such accidents and have already paid the family Rs 1 lakh as compensation."
Fury boils over
Residents of the area have criticised the arrogant behaviour of the BESCOM officials and many are surprised at the shocking statement made by the MD himself.
"First of all a live wire was left lying on the ground, and despite regular complaints from the residents, no action was taken. Now that such an incident has occurred, instead of looking at it seriously, they are claiming that they cannot avoid accidents, which is highly unprofessional behaviour. The family is in grief presently, but nonetheless we have filed a complaint," said Mallikarjun, Sunita's uncle.
Meanwhile, the Chandra Layout police are investigating the matter and have asked the assigned doctor from the Victoria Hospital to file a report on the case.
"During post mortem we found electrocution to be the cause of death. The child wasn't wearing shoes and had stepped on a live wire. We have also asked for a pathology report to rule out other reasons of death," said the doctor from Victoria Hospital.
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