Cuttack: An employee of Irrigation department was killed while another sustained critical injuries after coming in contact with a live wire at Lendhura Bhagabanpur under Nemalo police limits in Cuttack district on Thursday.
Surendra Nath Acharya and Harekrishna Sethi, employees of the irrigation department, reportedly came in contact with an 11 KV live electric wire while they were working near Chitraptala dam.
Acharya and Sethi were immediately rushed to Nischintakoili Community Health Centre. However, doctors declared Acharya brought dead while Sethi is currently undergoing treatment at the hospital.
Deceased Acharya's family members alleged that he came in contact with the 11 KV power transmission line as it was hanging lower than its usual height.
"The Junior Engineer is responsible for my brother's death because he never visits the sites nor takes any safety measures for the employees. Action should be taken against him," said Acharya's brother, Ratiranjan.
Another relative of Acharya, Manoj also alleged that the Energy department had not taken any steps to address the safety measures. "None of the concerned officials visited the site even when my uncle died due to such negligence. They should be arrested," he said.
Manas Ranjan Mohanty, SDO, Nischintakoili Power division, on the other hand, refuted the allegations. "I got to know about the incident from my subordinates. The mishap took place due to the carelessness of the deceased and the injured. They did not inform us before going to the field or else we would have asked the concerned officials to disconnect the electricity," he claimed.
It is worth mentioning that ten persons died and over 40 were left injured after a bus they were travelling in came in contact with an 11 KV live electric wire and caught fire near Nandarajpur under the Golanthara police limits of Ganjam district on February 9.