Relay System Failure Blamed for Electrocution Deaths

HYDERABAD: With four electrocution deaths in the city in five days, a senior power sector expert has raised alarming doubts about why the relay protection system is failing to function during these fatal incidents.

The relay protection system is designed to cut power from the feeder immediately after a wire snaps. Though the discom upgraded the system at huge expense, the circuit failed to break, raising serious questions about whether it is functioning as intended.

On Saturday morning, a 44‑year‑old private firm manager and his 16‑year‑old daughter were electrocuted in Alwal’s Telecom Colony after coming into contact with a live wire while clearing fallen tree branches outside their residence.

On June 9, two youths died after touching snapped wires lying on a rain‑soaked road near Bandlaguda while alighting from an autorickshaw.

The expert noted that discom staff deputed to assist the municipal body in maintaining street lights have not taken responsibility for preventing such mishaps. The state government and TGSPDCL, he said, are maintaining silence and evading accountability.

The Alwal tragedy is part of a disturbing pattern of electrocution deaths in Hyderabad. In August 2025, five youths died in Ramanthapur when an unauthorised cable made contact with an 11 KV overhead line and an iron chariot during a festival procession. Last year, two people sleeping on a footpath in Chintalkunta, LB Nagar, were killed after a high‑tension wire snapped in heavy gales and fell on them.

The key causes across incidents include:

1. Snapped overhead wires falling into waterlogged streets

2. Damaged or live wires on rain‑soaked ground

3. Electric poles contacting water during heavy rainfall

4. High‑tension wires contacting vehicles

5. Agricultural motor repairs in wells