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Chamoli electrocution: 3, including suspended engineer, arrested for ‘negligence’
Those killed included a police sub-inspector, three home guard jawans, and a plant security guard, among others. The incident took place on Wednesday
Uttarakhand Police have arrested three people, including Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan suspended engineer, for alleged negligence in the electrocution incident which led to the death of 16 people at the sewerage treatment plant (STP) under Namami Gange at Gopeshwar of Chamoli district, officials said.
“We have arrested Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan suspended additional assistant engineer Hardev Lal, joint venture company supervisor Pawan Chamola, and lineman Mahendra Singh on Friday evening for gross negligence in operating electrical appliances. They are being produced in a court,” said Chamoli superintendent of police Pramendra Dobhal.
Those killed included a police sub-inspector, three home guard jawans, and a plant security guard, among others. The incident took place on Wednesday.
On Thursday, a first information report (FIR) was registered under Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and relevant sections of the Dangerous Machines (Regulation) Act, 1983, against Chamola, supervisor of the joint-venture company, and other unidentified officials.
Three teams were constituted by Chamoli SP under the supervision of Chamoli circle officer Pramod Shah to investigate the matter.
The action came following the instruction of chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami who directed the district administration and police officials to take immediate action against all the responsible people.
In an official release, the police said, “STP’s security guard-cum-operator Ganesh Lal was found dead on July 19 at the stairs outside the plant. Upon receiving information, the police reached the plant for inquest proceedings. Prima facie, it appeared to be a death due to electrocution. A large number of villagers and locals had also gathered at the plant demanding immediate compensation for the death of the security guard.”
“The electricity that was shut down at 11.12am due to the fault was restored at 11.25am without identifying the root cause. Immediately, the current spread in the complex amid a blast in the changeover switch. A Pandemonium broke out and people inside the complex fell on each other after receiving electric shocks,” the statement added.
Shah said, “After interacting with UPCL (Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited), Jal Sansthan officials, and conducting an inspection of the plant, it came to light that it was gross negligence on the part of suspended additional assistant engineer Hardev Lal, joint venture company supervisor Pawan Chamola, and lineman Mahendra Singh, and owners and concerned officials in the operation of electricity equipment installed at STP which led to the incident.”
The entire STP was being run in a structure made of tin shed and electrically conductive iron metal, he added.
Shah said that they were also conducting raids at different locations, including in Patiala, to arrest other concerned officials of the joint venture company.
Operation and maintenance of the Gopeshwar STP is outsourced to a joint venture of Patiala-based Jai Bhushan Malik Contractors and Coimbatore-based Confident Engineering India Pvt. Ltd, officials said. The STP with a capacity of 0.5 megalitres per day, was set up under the Namami Gange project in 2019 and handed over to the Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan in 2021, with electricity provided to it by the Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited.
People familiar with the development said that the supervisor during the interrogation claimed that he informed the company officials about the death of security guard-cum-operator, Ganesh Lal, in the first electrocution incident but they hushed up the matter.
Meanwhile, Chamoli additional district magistrate (ADM) Abhishek Tripathi, who has been appointed as an officer for the magisterial probe into the incident, refused to share details.
“The probe is underway. I can’t share the details until the probe is completed,” he said.
On Wednesday morning, 16 people were electrocuted to death while at least 11 others were injured at the Namami Gange STP, located on the banks of the Alaknanda.
They had gathered at the plant as the police were investigating the electrocution of the lone security guard at the STP the night before.
The next day, two officials – one each from Jal Sansthan and UPCL – were arrested for alleged negligence.
The suspended officials were additional assistant engineer Hardev Lal of Jal Sansthan, who was entrusted with the responsibility of monitoring the firm’s work at STP, and junior engineer in-charge Kundan Singh Rawat of UPCL.
The Uttarakhand government also ordered a safety audit of all sewage treatment plants in the state.
The UPCL claimed that we were never informed by STP outsourced company, and Jal Sansthan never informed about the first electrocution incident.
Pawan Chamola, the company’s supervisor, said the UPCL lineman visited the STP site when everybody, including police, gathered there on Wednesday morning.
