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Day after shock, Shankarpuri Colony stunned into silence
After 8-yr-old boy’s death, power officials cover the transformer box with a net and begin repairing other sites flagged for potential hazards; residents say action too little, too late
LUCKNOW The death of a boy after accidentally coming in contact with a high-voltage transformer has plunged Shankarpuri Colony of Qaiserbagh into grief. Silence prevails over a neighbourhood, which used to echo with sounds of children playing in the park, a day after Mohammad Fahad, 8, died while retrieving a cricket ball from near the transformer on Sunday afternoon.
The boy was playing with local children when the ball rolled near the open transformer inside the neighbourhood park.
“My son hasn’t stepped out since the tragedy. He keeps asking if what happened to Fahad could happen to him too,” said a local resident, holding back tears.
Mourners continue to pour into Fahad’s home. “He was the heart of our house, the youngest, always running around. Now, his absence is louder than any sound,” said his uncle Mohammad Raees.
Locals alleged that the authorities did not act despite repeated complaints about the unsafe transformer. While the feeder manager responsible for the transformer’s maintenance has been suspended, residents demand more than just routine action. “Who will bring back our Fahad? All we ever asked was for basic safety for our children,” said a neighbour.
A day after the tragedy, the power officials on Monday morning covered the transformer box with a net and began repairing other sites flagged for potential hazards.
Hussainganj section’s executive engineer Arun Kumar Bharti confirmed that a worker was sent early Monday to install a metal net around the transformer gate. “Now, no one will be able to enter the transformer box yard,” he said.
Bharti added that repair work has also begun at other spots in the colony where residents had earlier complained of electric shocks. “From now on, such complaints will be resolved on priority,” he said.
For many, the barricade installed after the incident serves not as a safeguard but as a reminder of how late the system responds.
But for Fahad’s family and neighbours, the action comes too late. “Had this been done earlier, my nephew would still be alive,” said Mohammad Raees.
Jahir-un-Nisa, a resident, said: “A wall should be erected as these nets would not last for more than a few months due to rust. Many times dogs and goats have also died due to electrocution.”
