A dangling cable, belonging to BESCOM, claims a teenager's life and badly burns another. The latest victim's hand, limbs had to be amputated, and the family spent over ten lakh to save his life. Both incidents happened in KJ George's Sarvanjanagar assembly, and BESCOM says it is the victim's fault.
In a shocking case of negligence, two teenagers have been electrocuted in Bengaluru Development Minister KJ George's constituency. It is a tragic testimony to the fact that time and again, negligence has put the lives of Bengaluru's residents at stake.
This time, in less than fifteen days, one life was snuffed out, and another is bearly surviving - all allegedly due to the BESCOM's negligence. Here are the horrific tales of both victims -
Resting in a hospital cot with his limbs cut and some 50 percent burn injuries on his body, Cavin William's dream of becoming an engineer to help his mother has been brutally short.
Just a week after he started college, on 21 June, he came back home after classes and went upstairs to their Lingarajpuram residence. In a few minutes, his mother Vidya heard screams from the balcony and rushed up to check.
"I saw my son lying on the floor with his body burnt. I could see the 11 KV live wire moving and realised that something had gone wrong and rushed him to the hospital. Now his right hand and his left limbs are cut. He is in depression," a distraught Vidya told Asianet Newsable.
A single parent, she quit her job last year to help her son prepare for his SSCL exam and got him admitted to a private college close by to her residence. She was hoping that her son would become a successful person and help her later in life, but fate had other plans, and now her only child is battling for his life.
"The incident would not have happened had the authorities diverted the line running over the house or had insulated it. Because of their negligence, Cavin is suffering. So far we have spent Rs 10 lakh and has another 5 lakh as outstanding," she rued.
Similarly, Stephen Raj, another teenager, aged 16, died on June 19 after he accidentally touched a live wire dangling over a play ground in KG Halli Stephen. His both limbs were also amputated, and he was in deep pain. The treatment continued for a week, but he succumbed to injuries.
"BESCOM should have cleared the dangling wire. At least now they should wake up and do something," said David, Stephen's elder brother. He further added that the family had a lot of hope on Stephen as he was the only person in the home to go to college.
"The family is poor. I am a garments worker, my mother is a house maid and my father is a painter. We had all pooled money for his studies hoping he will become successful and save the family later. But the BESCOM's negligence killed him," said David.
Meanwhile, BESCOM seems to be in denial mode and calls victim's mother a liar. The irony is that the Executive Engineer, Bescom, was not aware of the second incident and he blamed the victim in another case.
Balanethra, Executive Engineer, BESOCM Sarvajna Nagar Assembly says the live wire at Cavin's home is running 1.2 meters away from the house balcony. BESCOM claims the boy must have intentionally touched the cable. Hence he was injured, and there is no fault on BESCOM's side.
"Cavin's mother is not telling the truth. The electrocution happened only after he touched the wire. The mother had said that the wire pulled her son and threw him down on its own and this theory is not acceptable," he said.
Lashing out at the carefree attitude of the BESCOM, Anil Shetty, President, Nav Bharath Party, demanded compensation to both the victims as the victims died due to uninsulated cables.
"There should be a public audit of such killer wires dangling all over the city. Many such cables would have been put illegally, and BESCOM will be responsible for this act," he said.
