Navi Mumbai civic body sacks engineer after 5-year-old girl is electrocuted to death

The incident had occurred on April 17 , when the girl came in contact with an open distribution panel box in sector 40.

Following the death of a five-year-old in Seawoods due to an electric shock after coming in contact with an open distribution panel (DP) box,the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has sacked its junior engineer, Kushal Gunjal, for dereliction of duty.

Picture for representation

The incident had occurred on April 17 in sector 40, opposite Grand Central mall. The girl had come in contact with an open DP on the footpath.

Dadasaheb Chabukswar, deputy municipal commissioner zone I, said, “On the instructions of the municipal commissioner, in the case of the death of the girl in Seawoods, action has been taken against the junior engineer who was employed on contract basis.”

He added, “Based on the departmental inquiry, his services have been terminated. We will not tolerate any lethargy in the functioning of our officials.”

She was a resident of a local slum that came up on an open City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) plot in the area. Her postmortem report has confirmed that she died due to an electric shock. An accidental death case was registered at NRI coastal police station.

NMMC and MSEDCL officials have been lethargic about the issue of open DP boxes, despite several complaints by residents and local representatives. NMMC has spent crores of rupees on underground cabling of electric wires in the nodes and villages. However, there are still several boxes where electric cables can be seen protruding.