Hyderabad: Yet another death can be laid at the door of the electricity department, this time of one of its own employees.
Less than a week after Patlavath Lakshmi, 48, died after coming in contact with a live electric wire in Shamshabad, Dulam Yadaiah, 45, designated artisan (helper) died of an electric shock when repairing a faulty line on an electric pole in Mansoorabad.
According to the police, Yadaiah and assistant engineer of Autonagar circle, Narsimha Shetty, were attending to repair work. While Shetty monitored the work from the ground, Yadaiah climbed the electric pole to carry out the repairs police said.
Blame game on death of power staff
Though the electricity department now claims that a line clearance (LC) was obtained, meaning that the power had been switched off as is mandatory when such repair work is carried out, this was not the case and Dulam Yadaiah received a fatal electric shock.
Yadaiah was taken to a nearby hospital, but was declared brought dead. Police said that Yadaiah was not wearing any safety gear when he climbed the pole.
“The officials claimed that they got LC from the substation before Yadaiah climbed the pole, but what went wrong has to be probed. We will verify the records at the substation and proceed with the investigation,” said D. Nagaraju, sub-inspector of the LB Nagar police station.
Based on a complaint from Yadaiah’s wife, Suvarna, a case has been registered against Narsimha Shetty.
“It is purely due to the negligence of the officials and the assistant engineer who was supervising the work. How can they insist my husband climb the pole without confirmation of power supply being put off?” asked Suvarna.
Yadaiah is survived by his wife, a daughter studying for the SSC exams and a son who is in Class VII
