State Drinking Water and Sanitation Minister Mithilesh Kumar Thakur on Sunday visited the families of three children who were electrocuted during the Har Ghar Tricolor campaign in Kanke area of Ranchi last week. The minister assured financial assistance of Rs.5-5 lakh (total 15 lakh) to the victim's family members and immediate job on contractual basis to one member of the family.
On the occasion, Mithilesh Thakur told the families of the victims that in the tragic incident, the family lost their three promising children untimely, it is not possible to make up for it. Chief Minister Hemant Soren is very sad about this incident and today he reached their houses only on his instructions. He also talked about the government's standing with the victim's family in this hour of grief.
The incident took place on August 14 at Borya in Ranchi, when the three – Vineet Jha (23), sister Puja Kumari (25) and their cousin Aarti Kumari (26) were trying to straighten the tri-colour, which had been hoisted on their roof to mark the ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign, got tilted due to heavy rain.
The incident took place after the steel rod got in contact with the live wire running near their house, leading to the death of all three persons.
Earlier, Ranchi BJP MP, Sanjay Seth had demanded the state government to shift or cover the high tension wire passing through or above the private and government buildings in State including Ranchi. The Ranchi MP raised the demand after meeting the family member of three youths who were killed due to electrocution on August 14, while hoisting the tricolour on their roof on Sunday.
The family members had claimed that when the house was getting constructed, there was no wire above it, but the electricity department put high-tension wire merely one and a half feet from their house a year ago. They made several complaints to the local authorities, but nothing was done towards shifting the wire.
Seth said that the incident is due to negligence of the electricity department. The family members on several occasions had requested the officials of the Electricity Department to either shift the high tension wire from above their house or cover it, but the officials did not pay heed to their request. The family had to lose its children due to electricity department officials’ negligence. Seth had also demanded proper investigation in the matter from the government.
The passing of high-tension lines on the roofs of residential and commercial complexes have increased the plight of residents. There are several areas in Capital where such wires pass, posing threat to residents.
The MP said that he also receives many such complaints that high tension wires have passed over a person's house, somewhere over a government school. There is often a possibility of an accident due to this. Local citizens and villagers have urged them many times in this matter to shift the wires somewhere else or cover it, but the people of the electricity department do not consider it necessary to take cognizance of such matters.