A man and his teenage daughter were electrocuted on Tuesday as they came in contact with the electricity wires passing by their house at Kot Tibba locality here.The power line passes centimetres away from the roofs of many houses in the colony, putting them at a constant risk.
The victims' family alleged that the junior engineer had been negligent in duty and had removed the precautionary wooden stick put by the family to keep the wires away.
A day before the incident, junior engineer Mewa Singh had allegedly removed the wooden stick.Balvir Kaur, wife and mother of the victims, said, "The Powercom official told us that fixing the wires would cost around Rs 50,000 and if the family wanted those to be fixed they would have to bear the cost. A day earlier he had removed the wooden stick that kept the wires at a distance.
We were not informed about the wires lying just above our roof that electrocuted my daughter. My husband who tried to save her also got electrocuted."
Kaur said, "I work as a domestic help and have two sons. My husband was a labourer. Now how will we earn a living? How can we pay such a huge sum for getting the problem fixed when we barely make ends meet?"
{{/usCountry}}Kaur said, "I work as a domestic help and have two sons. My husband was a labourer. Now how will we earn a living? How can we pay such a huge sum for getting the problem fixed when we barely make ends meet?"
{{/usCountry}}Powercom executive engineer Udaydeep Singh Dhillon said, "The colony is illegal as the power lines have been laid before the construction of houses there. Whenever someone constructs a house there, we issue them notice. The JE removed the wooden stick as it disrupted the power supply."When asked if any step was being taken to lessen the risk to people's lives, he said, "We intend to do this but it will take time."
SSP Narinder Bhargav said, "The JE has been booked for causing death due to negligence and will be arrested soon."
Deputy commissioner Amit Dakha said, "The incident is unfortunate, but to avoid repeat of such incidents, within a year we are shifting this power line to the upcoming grid in Mansa. The construction is illegal as nothing can be constructed under the power lines."