BENGALURU: Taking up a suo motu case against the state government and Bengaluru Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) authorities based on media reports about the death of a woman and her 9-month-old baby due to electrocution on a pavement, Karnataka Lokayukta Justice B S Patil directed the Superintendent of Police of Lokayukta to conduct investigation and submit a report by December 8, 2023, the next date of hearing.
Soundarya (23) and her daughter Suviksha, who arrived in Bengaluru on November 19, after celebrating Deepavali in Tamil Nadu, were electrocuted when she stepped on a live electrical wire lying on the pavement near Hope Farm Junction on Whitefield Main Road, in Kadugodi police station limits. Directing the Registry to issue notice to the additional chief secretary of the Energy Department and Bescom authorities, including its managing director, to submit their response, Justice Patil said: “The object of the Karnataka Lokayukta Act is to ensure good governance in the state administration and also to prevent maladministration.
Negligence on the part of the authorities who are entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring proper maintenance of the electrical line, in my considered view, falls within the meaning of ‘maladministration’ under Section 2(10) of the Act.”
The Lokayukta further said Bescom is collecting electrical charges from the public, who expect corresponding facilities from the authorities to make their life comfortable and hassle-free. “We often see very old and dilapidated electrical wires connected to poles and which are not changed. The matter requires detailed investigation to fix responsibility on officials responsible for non-maintenance of electrical lines, and to find a permanent solution to such problems,” the Lokayukta observed.
The Lokayukta also said it is needless to mention that it is the prime duty of electricity supply companies to keep all electrical lines in good condition to enable the public to walk freely without any fear.