‘Shop owner was warned of loose connections’
GHAZIABAD: On Tuesday, Lal Singh noticed something curious in his fellow grocer Sushil Kumar’s shop opposite to his on Rakesh Marg.
“I spotted a spark near the shed where an electric bulb was hanging. I immediately asked the shop owner to get it checked,” said Singh. “After we alerted him, he checked the iron poles and the shed with the help of a tester and told us that there was no electricity current. We suspect that it was some loose power cable that helped electricity flow to the shed and led to the electrocution.”
The incident took place in the street number 3 located adjacent to Rakesh Marg, a prominent road for Nehru Nagar, a posh residential locality. Several houses in the street are rented out to migrants from eastern UP and Bihar, locals said.
The deceased were identified as Jaanki (35), her daughter Shubhi (3), Simran (11), Khushi (10), and Lakshmi Narayan (24).
The electricity poles in the street are cluttered with dozens of connections to households on different storeys while many power cables were also spotted near the newly laid tin shed at the grocery shop.
The family of Khushi, one of the victims, blamed the shop owner for the incident.
“It is a sheer negligence on part of the shop owner. My daughter had gone there to buy a packet of biscuits. I was away on some work while she was at home with her father and two siblings,” said Khushi’s mother Usha, a native of Sheohar district in Bihar.
Some eyewitnesses also captured the incident on their mobile phones. A video of the incident accessed by HT shows several people running towards the grocery shop in the waterlogged lane and later rushing the victims for medical aid.
“The entire scene at that time was very painful. Everyone was shouting for help. I saw two girls falling on the waterlogged road when they got electrocuted. I was stunned... Many people shouted ‘light katwa do’ (get the electricity supply snapped),” said Dushyant Kumar, a resident of the area and one of the eyewitnesses. CM directs inquiry
Taking cognisance of the incident, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday afternoon directed the district officials to initiate an inquiry.
Based on directions, Ghaziabad district magistrate RK Singh formed a committee headed by additional district magistrate (city) and asked them to file a report at the earliest.
“The committee comprises officers from district administration and also from the electricity department and the department of electrical safety. Prima facie it appears that some loose connection at the shop led to the incident. We also spoke to some locals who told us about spark near the hanging bulb at the grocery shop,” said Shailendra Kumar, additional district magistrate (city).
“However, a thorough inquiry will be conducted to know the exact reasons behind the incident. We will also get an FIR registered in the case,” he added.