In a tragic incident on Wednesday, 16 people died and 11 sustained injuries after getting electrocuted at a Namami Gange project site located on the banks of the Alaknanda river in the Chamoli district.
Most of the deceased include people involved in the Namami Gange project, some villagers besides a police sub-inspector and three home guards. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has expressed condolences over the tragic incident and ordered a magisterial inquiry into it.
The incident happened around 11:35 am in which a total of 26 people were electrocuted. Out of them, 16 died and the remaining sustained injuries. Six victims with critical conditions were airlifted to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Rishikesh for treatment while the remaining were admitted to the Government hospital in Gopeshwar, Chamoli.
The police had sent all bodies for post-mortem till Wednesday evening. The deceased include sub-inspector, police Pradeep Singh Rawat, homeguards Deepak Kumar, Gopal Singh Bastwal and Sobat Lal, and in-charge of Namami Gange Sewage Treatment plant Yogendra Singh.
The district magistrate Himanshu Khurana, superintendent of police Pramendra Dobhal along with the officials of the health department, State Disaster Response Force and other departments rushed to the spot to oversee the rescue and relief operation.
Dobhal said the caretaker of the project site Ganesh Lal had died on Tuesday evening purportedly by getting electrocuted and a police team, along with some villagers, had gone to the site on Wednesday morning to carry out the process of Panchnama when this tragic incident happened.
The additional director general of police (Crime, Law and Order) V Murugesan said , “As per the information received by district police, the side railing of the river dam had an electric current that reportedly spread on Wednesday morning. The district police have been ordered to investigate the matter.”
On the question of why no step was taken after a man was already electrocuted to death a day before, authorities stated that action will be taken in the matter on the basis of investigation. Health Minister Dhan Singh Rawat also reached Gopeshwar to meet the victims and assured them of providing all possible help to them.
He also said action against the responsible persons will be taken on the basis of the investigation report.
The Governor of Uttarakhand, Lieutenant General (Retd) Gurmit Singh and Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami have expressed grief.
In his message the Governor expressed deep sorrow in the deaths in the accident. He also wished speedy recovery for the injured. The CM who promptly ordered a magisterial inquiry and visited the accident site said that relief and rescue operations are being done on a major scale.
He ordered an ex-gratia payment of Rs five lakh each to the dependents of the deceased and Rs one lakh for those injured in the accident. Expressing grief at the loss of lives, the CM prayed for peace to their souls.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah called the CM on phone to inquire about the accident.