The heavy rain, accompanied with gusty wind and thunderstorm on Saturday, claimed the life of a 35-year-old man, who died allegedly after being electrocuted by a live wire which had fallen in front of his house.
The police said the victim, Satish, came in contact with the live wire around 11 p.m. when he stepped out of his house in Ramachandrappa Layout, Cox Town, to remove a coconut frond that had fallen due to the rain. The police suspect that the wire had been brought down by the coconut frond, and Satish did not notice it. The deceased, a painter, is survived by his mother.
Mayor Gangambike Mallikarjun visited the family on Sunday and announced a compensation of ₹5 lakh to the family. The Mayor told The Hindu that there are around 300 houses in the locality. People have been living there for the past eight decades, but many do not have Occupancy Certificates.
“As it is a private property, the Slum Development Board cannot take up any projects here. Most of the houses do not have proper electricity connection. Most have drawn a connection directly from the line. I will soon call a meeting of technical teams of Bescom and KPTCL, along with their MDs, to discuss what kind of safety measures can be taken in such settlements to prevent accidents like this,” she said.
Sarvagnanagar councillor Shashirekha Mukund said there is very little space between houses. Due to the narrow space — about two feet — it would be difficult to draw an electricity line or underground cables. She added that she would take up the issue in the next council meeting of the BBMP.
Bescom Managing Director C. Shikha said there have been several instances of tree branches falling on wires across the city. “Unfortunately, in this incident, the wire had fallen on the ground and the victim unknowingly came in contact with it,” she said.
Since February this year, at least six people have died after coming in contact with live wires. Recently, 14-year-old Nikhil succumbed to injuries after suffering an electric shock. On Saturday afternoon, 13-year-old Priya sustained 80% burns after coming in contact with a 66 kV line in a building at A. Narayanapura.
