Eight-year-old boy dies of electrocution in Ludhiana, PSPCL officials booked for negligence

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, June 28

In a tragic incident, eight-year-old Divyanshu, a resident of Chauri Sadak died after he suffered electric shock while standing in the waterlogged street near his house on Friday. It was suspected that naked hanging wires were submerged in the stagnant rainwater which resulted in the child getting electrocuted.

After the accident, the family had taken the boy to a hospital but he was declared brought dead by the doctors. Later in the night, the family kept the body of Divyanshu on road and held a protest seeking registration of a case against the negligent PSPCL officials.

As per the information, Divyanshu was enjoying himself in the rain yesterday when his parents sent him to a nearby shop to buy cheese. When he was wading through the rainwater, he suddenly suffered electric shock and fell unconscious.

Divyanshu’s sister Sneha said that her brother’s birthday falls on June 28 and a day before his birthday, her brother got electrocuted. PSPCL officials must be held responsible because the electricity poles had naked hanging wires which caused current to flow in the stagnant water resulting in the child’s loss of life, she said and demanded that the police register a case against senior officials of PSPCL for committing this gross negligence.

Deceased boy was student of first standard, his father a rickshaw-puller.

Yesterday at night, when the family was staging a protest on road in front of the PSPCL building in Daresi with Divyanshu’s body, and demanding action against the PSPCL officials, Assistant Commissioner of Police Akarshi Jain had immediately reached the spot to meet the bereaved family. The police officer made efforts to convince the protesting family to shift the body to Civil Hospital but the family was adamant that strict action should be taken against the careless officials. The protest lasted for two hours.

Social activists Sacha Yadav, Ashok Thapar, Tribhuvan Thapar etc had also arrived to support the family. The social activists said that three people had died due to electric shock in a single day in the city which included Divyanshu, a married woman and one more person. The promises that the government had made to the people after coming to power have all fallen flat, they claimed.

Instead of giving free electricity to the people, the government should provide electricity at Rs 2 per unit, so that other works of the department can be done from the revenue collected by Powercom. The department also needs to recruit linemen so that faults like naked wires can be rectified on time, they said.

Meanwhile, the residents while condemning PSPCL officials, alleged that many a time, complaints regarding naked hanging wires were lodged but no official came to rectify them. The city still has many spots where such wires invite mishaps and the department should step up and cover these wires failing which more people may lose their lives during the monsoon season.

SHO, Police Division No. 3, Amritpal Sharma said that a case of causing death by negligence was today registered against the unknown PSPCL officials. These officials would be identified and further action would be taken as per law.

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