As city sinks after prolonged rains, electrocution and building collapse pose perils to life. Yet again, two persons died of electrocution and a house collapsed in the Sealdah area.
Manik Barui, a resident of Joka, died after being electorcuted as a live wire snapped from the overhead wire bundle and fell on him when he was on his motorbike. The incident occurred at 10.30 pm on Thursday night at Baish Bigha Road in Haridevpur. His body will be handed over to the family after autopsy.
Locals alleged poor maintenance by WBSEDCL, responsible for power distribution, that led to this tragedy. Sujoy Mondal, 18, another victim of electrocution, died when he was fishing in a waterlogged road, police said.
Mondal, a resident of Patuli, was electrocuted after he accidentally touched a loose wire floating. The incident occurred at around 4 pm today and has raised questions over CESC’s handling of snapped wires. Police recovered the body after CESC cut off power supply. Infuriated locals put up road blockades and vandalised the CESC van over the incident.
Previously, after the mishap near Raj Bhavan, KMC board chairman Firhad Hakim had said such tangle of overhead dangling wires need to be looked into by the power distributors.
Meanwhile, a portion of a residential building in ward no. 49 of the KMC, adjacent to Sealdah Surrendranath College and in 16/4 Noor Mohammed Lane collapsed and fell on the adjacent building at midnight. Police reached the spot soon after. The incident happened right after the KMC issued notices to residents of dilapidated and dangerous buildings to vacate their premises. A KMC official said that the civic body has identified about 200 such buildings in the city which needs immediate reconstruction after demolition.
The Kolkata Police has also been notified about such buildings that lie in a precarious state. However, KMC has kept its demolition squad on standby for such building collapse incidents.