In protest against ransacking of Athagarh division Cesu office and damaging of vehicles of the staff on Wednesday by Achalkot villagers, the employees of the division observed a cease work on Thursday.
The attack on the Cesu office took place following death of one Santosh Kumar Malick of Achalkot, a service staff of Riverside Utility Private limited (RUPl), a franchisee Cesu, due to electrocution. Mallick while working on an 11KV live wire at Godijharia village was electrocuted.
In a Press meet on Thursday, Nikhil Odisha Bidyut Karmachari Sangha general secretary Hemanta Kumar Mohanty condemned the ransacking incident and demanded safety of the staff members at workplace. He also demanded immediate arrest of those who were involved in the incident.
Meanwhile, RUPl authority paid ex-gratia of Rs 15,000 for the funeral of Santosh, said company’s business manager Siba Prasad Das.
Santosh being a RUPl staff, his jurisdiction was to work only in lT lines and the service and maintenance of 11 KV lines was the responsibility of Cesu. The lineman posted by Cesu in that section Nityananda Behera is an old man. He used to take the help of Santosh for reparation of 11KV lines. On Tuesday evening, Nityananda had engaged Santosh in the 11 KV line power supply. The power was disconnected at the nearest point but unluckily, the switch jumped and Santosh was electrocuted. Nityananda absconded after the incident.
RUPl staff first took Santosh to Athagarh hospital and later shifted him to the SCB in Cuttack where he was declared brought dead.
When the news spread in his village, irate villagers barged into Athagarh Cesu office and took the law into their hands. Assistant labour Officer (AlO) Parimita Mishra reached Cesu and RUPl office to inquire about the incident.