The Orissa Human Rights Commission (OHRC) has directed a power distribution company to pay Rs 10 lakh as compensation to a family that lost two earning members to electrocution in the Mayurbhanj district six years back.
The rights panel directed the release of compensation within four months and sought a compliance report with proof of payment of the compensation amount.
A father-son duo identified as Baishnab Patra and Mohan Patra was electrocuted while another person was injured when they came in contact with a live wire at Machapada village under the Baisinga police station jurisdiction of Mayurbhanj district on 3 July 2016.
The victims were on their way to a farmland to collect vegetables when they came in contact with 11 KV live wire snapped from the high-tension overhead line.
TPNODL, the power distribution company, later denied accountability for the mishap stating that the 11KV pin insulator burst due to the intervention of heavy birds.
The Commission in its order, ruled: “The distribution company and its officers are collectively responsible for the mishap due to negligence on their part. Therefore, the Commission is inclined to recommend adequate compensation to the next of kin of the deceased and injured persons. The Commission is of the view that TPNODL is liable to pay compensation.”
Although no monetary compensation can compensate for the loss of human life, the Commission recommends that the distribution company shall pay Rs 5 lakh each to the next of kin of the two electrocution victims, the Commission observed.
50 per cent of the compensation amount shall be kept in fixed deposit for a period of three years in any nationalised bank in the name of the deceased Baishab Patra’s wife. She shall be allowed to draw the monthly interest accrued in the fixed deposit amount. The entire exercise shall be completed within a period of four months from the date of receipt of the order, OHRC concluded in the order.