Three people died of electrocution on the waterlogged streets of West Bengal in three different parts of the state since Friday night.
The total number of cyclone Dana-related casualties in West Bengal is four since Friday, after the cyclone made its landfall in Odisha.
Kolkata experienced continuous rainfall from Friday morning, leading to waterlogging in multiple parts of the city by noon. Allegedly, in the afternoon, a young man was electrocuted while trying to cross a waterlogged road in Bhawanipur, where an electric wire was hanging from a railing. Police have registered a case of unnatural death and started an investigation into the incident. Sources said, the power supply major, CESC, might also file a separate complaint with the police.
According to local sources, an electric wire was hanging from a railing on Justice Dwarkanath Road in Bhawanipur on Friday afternoon. Due to continuous rain, the road was flooded. While crossing the waterlogged street, the youth was electrocuted. He was identified as Sourav Prasad Gupta, student and a resident of the area and a native of Bihar.
Relatives of the deceased alleged non-cooperation from the caretaker of a nearby highrise, claiming the caretaker did not switch off power supply of a glow sign board of a dental clinic, leading to the death.
The local councillor claimed that there was no KMC lamppost and the CESC officials, who later went to the spot, also claimed the death was not due to any overhead wires belonging to the supplier.
Investigations have begun.
In another incident in Sridharnagar, Patharpratima, South 24-Parganas, a boy named Subhajit Das lost his life due to electrocution. According to reports, after a tree fell on the service line from the electric pole on his house, cutting the wire and disconnecting the electricity to his home, Subhajit went with his family to clear the tree. Eyewitnesses claimed that he did not realise that the broken wire was still live, nor did they inform electricity workers to clear the fallen tree.
Sources from the state administration said that of the four deaths, three were caused by electrocution in the water-logged streets and one person died after getting tapped in a drain. The person was identified as Goutham Chatterjee (36), a casual employee of conservancy department of Howrah Municipal Corporation and a resident of local Tantipara Lane near Dumurjala Sports complex.
Union minister and BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar lambasted the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) for the deaths. He stated that incidents of electrocution-related deaths are recurring in the city, and the KMC seems indifferent. “A tragic and avoidable loss in CM Mamata Banerjee’s own Bhawanipur constituency, a 25-year-old youth has lost his life after being electrocuted in stagnant water. Despite the Chief Minister’s attempts to control the situation from Nabanna, her own administration’s failures are evident. How long will the people endure the inefficiency and corruption under Mayor Firhad Hakim and the TMC government? This is the real cost of their misgovernance. #JusticeForBhawanipur,” wrote the Union minister in his X-handle.