Kolkata, Sep 24 Nawsad Siddique, the lone All India Secular Front (AISF) representative in the West Bengal Assembly, on Wednesday, filed a public interest litigation (PIL) at the Calcutta High Court on the multiple electrocution deaths in Kolkata on Tuesday.
A total of 10 persons were reported to be killed in and around Kolkata on Tuesday after coming in contact with the naked wires submerged in the rainwater, following night-long heavy showers.
In his PIL, Siddique had sought compensation for the family members of those killed in electrocution.
He also sought a high-level judicial inquiry into why such electrocution deaths have become a common and recurring factor in Kolkata, whenever there is city street inundation because of the rain.
The petition has been admitted. The matter is expected to come up for hearing at Calcutta High Court’s division bench of Justice Sujay Paul and Justice Smita Das De on Thursday.
On Tuesday, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee blamed Sanjiv Goenka-owned private power generation-cum-distribution utility, CESC Ltd, for the electrocution deaths and also said that the management of the power utility should pay compensation to the family members of the victim and also provide jobs to at least one member of the family.
Besides power generation, CESC is responsible for power distribution in Kolkata and the adjacent district of Howrah, and for these two districts, the entity enjoys a total distribution monopoly.
The Chief Minister claimed that despite reaping rich profits from West Bengal, the CESC management did not concentrate on modernisation activities in West Bengal. She also accused the CESC management of repeatedly ignoring her caution notes in the matter.
On Tuesday night, a senior CESC official issued a statement, claiming that of the eight electrocution deaths in the city, five happened inside the respective houses of the victims due to wiring issues.
"Two cases have happened due to touching the street light posts, which are not generally maintained by the CESC. One happened at a signal kiosk. We will be more vigilant so that such incidents do not happen next time,' the CESC statement read.
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