Four women electrocuted, 2 injured in Purnia; Bihar CM announces compensation

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar announced a compensation of ₹4 lakh each for the family of the deceased and free treatment for those injured

In a tragic incident, four women labourers were electrocuted while two others sustained serious burn injuries a when live wire fell on them in Bihar’s Purnia district on Tuesday afternoon, police said.

The locals alleged that despite repeated complaints, the electricity department did not take any action. (Representative file image)

Expressing condolences, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar announced a compensation of ₹4 lakh each for the family of the deceased and free treatment for those injured.

Sub divisional police officer (SDPO) Dhamdaha, Ramesh Kumar said the 11 KV live wire suddenly fell on the women working in the field where transplantation of paddy was underway. In the mishap, four women were killed and two were injured. He said the field where they were working had water as the paddy transplantation was underway.

Eyewitnesses said there were 14 women labourers in the field and as soon as the live wire fell down, the four women were electrocuted in no time.

“However, they were rushed to the Rupauli referral hospital where the four were declared dead,” locals said.

The incident angered locals after which they blocked the Rupauli–Purnia road with bodies of the deceased demanding government jobs for their family and called for murder charges to slapped on the officials of the electricity department responsible for this.

The locals alleged that despite repeated complaints, the electricity department did not take any action.

“The 11 KV wire passing through the farm was loose and we had complained about it to the officials several times”, angry locals alleged.

Senior officials including the SDO and SDPO assured speedy probe into the incident and only then the locals lifted the blockade.

The deceased bodies were sent to Purnia government medical college and hospital for postmortem.