ANANTAPUR: The district has witnessed a high number of 510 electrocution deaths in the last four years. However, only 42 families of the victims have received compensation. According to official information, 132 people were electrocuted in 2018-19. Only kin of eight victims was paid compensation. In 2019-20, 119 were electrocuted and only 11 victims’ families had got compensation.
Of the total 130 people who died of electrocution in 2020-21, only 12 families of victims were paid compensation. In 2021-22, only nine families of the electrocution victims had received compensation of a total of 129. The victims included children, employees, workers and farmers. In the case of farmers who died of electrocution, most of the mishaps occurred when they themselves undertook motor pump set repairs when the electricity department staff failed to turn up. In several cases, farmers accidentally came in contact with live wires in agricultural fields when they got snapped.
There were also instances when people were electrocuted while they were hanging clothes to wires. Use of sub-standard electrical equipment, electrical fencing to protect crops from wild animals and lack of proper circuit breaker mechanism in power supply had often resulted in electrocution deaths, an official said. In most of the electrocution deaths, compensation was not paid by the authorities stating that the mishap was not due to the fault of the electricity department. This has proved a curse to many poor families, which lost their breadwinners.
“My husband Bhaskar (24) was a construction worker. He was electrocuted when he accidentally came in contact with a live wire while working at a construction site. We lost our breadwinner. Though we applied for compensation in 2019, there has been no response,” said Shyamala of Narasimpalle in Bukkapatnam mandal. She has three children to look after following her husband’s death.
Noorjahan’s 64-year-old husband Abdul Kalam had four acres of mango orchard and as an intercrop he raised groundnut. On January 18, 2018, he went to switch on the motor to draw water and suffered fatal electric shock. “My husband was the only breadwinner. When we applied for compensation to APSPDCL, there has been no response,” she rued.
APSPDCL Superintending Engineer Nagaraju said, “We are providing compensation to the kin of victims if the department staff are at fault. If there is any problem, the electricity department should be contacted on toll-free number 1912.”
No compensation yet, says victim’s wife
“My husband Bhaskar (24) was electrocuted when he accidentally came in contact with a live wire while working at a construction site. Though we applied for compensation in 2019, there has been no response,” said Shyamala of Narasimpalle