In a shocking case of civic apathy, a 42-year-old driver in Chitlapakkam was electrocuted to death on Monday, 17 September, when an electric pole in his neighbourhood collapsed on him.
While police claim that it was a freak accident, residents and activists in Chitlapakkam allege that it is a result of negligence by the Tamil Nadu Electricity board.
Sethuraj had left his residence around 8.30 pm to feed four stray dogs that he took care of in his locality, when the incident happened.
Chitlapakkam police told TNM that both the pole and the electric wire had fallen on the father of two, leading to his death. The victim was married to Shankari, who works at a school and has two children aged 14 and eight.
"We have filed a case of unnatural death based on the complaint given by his family," said an investigating officer.
While activists from Chitlapakkam rising, a local NGO, point out that multiple complaints have been filed by residents regarding the state of the electricity poles and lights in the area, the police denied this. When asked why there was no section for negligence included, the investigating officer said:
“It is not like a complaint given by the residents for that pole was not acted on (by officials). If that was the case, we would have looked into a case of negligence.”
"We have complained about the dilapidated poles, lights that don't work and about how it sways dangerously, but there has been no action taken," said Lakshmi, a friend of Sethuraj's wife and a member of Chitlapakkam Rising.
"This is definitely a case of negligence and action must be taken against erring officials. Everytime we told them to check, they said they didn't have enough manpower," she alleged.
Lakshmi added that Chitlapakkam Rising has submitted another complaint to the police, demanding that a case of negligence be pursued.
"Shankari and Sethuraj have been in love from the time she was in the ninth standard. She has still not come to terms with his death. She is devastated. The people responsible must be lawfully punished," said Lakshmi.
This death comes just a day after Dheena Senthil, a 14-year-old boy, was electrocuted to death after coming in contact with an exposed live wire.
The incident took place on Sunday at around 10 pm in Dhanam Nagar, near the old post office in Chennai’s Mugalivakkam neighbourhood.
Dheena, a resident of the neighbourhood, was walking on the street when he stepped on the electricity board wire which had not been isolated and buried properly by Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) personnel.
Although a few people saw Dheena get electrocuted, they could not rescue him as he died instantly.
According to reports, the road had been dug up by the electricity board to lay wires for street lights and drainage pipes in the locality. However, the works had not been completed and the workers had temporarily covered the wires with mud, instead of isolating and burying them properly.
(This article was originally published on The News Minute and has been republished with permission)
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