The Odisha government suspended six officials and sacked a junior engineer in connection with the death of seven elephants due to electrocution in Dhenkanal.
(Photo: Twitter/@biswajitmohanty)
The Odisha government suspended six officials and sacked a junior engineer in connection with the death of seven elephants due to electrocution in Dhenkanal. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik also ordered a Crime Branch probe into the death of the elephants.
A herd of 21 elephants had moved out of the forest towards the nearby paddy field near Kamalanga village of Dhenkanal district on Saturday when seven of them came in contact with a sagging 11 KV line and died.
Reports say that the forest department, too, has suspended three of its staff including Dhenkanal Range Officer. The junior engineer sacked is from the Central Electricity Supply Utility (CESU).
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Expressing grief over their death, the Chief Minister also said that appropriate action would be taken if any criminal negligence was found in the matter.
The tragic incident brought to the fore the careless attitude of the authorities concerned as the electric line was barely 5 feet above the ground.
The elephants electrocuted included a tusker, a mother and its less than one-year-old calf, and four females, said top forest officers who were at the spot on Saturday morning.
“It is appalling. The electric supply remained switched on even after the mishap and till noon on Saturday despite instructions that power supply should be shut down,” said a forest official.
Villagers, including the sarpanch and others, said they had repeatedly drawn the attention of the electricity department people towards the drooping overhead line. Rectification by way of a bamboo or a pole would have averted the tragedy, they said.
Forest Minister Bijayshree Routray described the incident as “most unfortunate”.
Read More: 7 wild elephants, including a calf, electrocuted in Odisha
“We lost seven elephants due to the sheer negligence of central electricity supply utility. The electricity supply authority was repeatedly warned about the sagging lines both by the forest department and the people of the area,” he said. The Minister informed that cases will be registered against those responsible for such callousness.
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