Helpless Amina with 4 children
Hanging high voltage wire caused the tragedy
We cannot call an electrical mishap caused due to negligence of the electrical department an accident. The term accident itself is misleading because it places the blame on the victim for a possible fault. We also do not propose that all unforeseen electrical mishaps should be blamed on the Electricity Supply Department. But when a sole bread earner from a poor family meets with an electrical ‘accident’ and dies, and the department provides no relief even after 5 years, for not receiving a proper application along with ‘appropriate’ documents, it is not just and fair. This stand of the bureaucracy itself violates human rights of the entire family. It also invokes public anguish. Following is a story describing one such incident.
Sheikh Mohammed was a daily wager of Vittla Madnur village in the South Kanara District. In 1996, he married Ameena, daughter of Abdul Khader who was also a daily wager by profession. Ameena used to make beedies and support all 6 members in the family when her husband's earnings were not sufficient for the maintenance. Their family had a practice of finding happiness even in the midst of difficulties.
There was no toilet in Mohammed's hut. For taking bath and for defecation, one had to depend on a nearby water stream. This stream used to flow for about eight months a year.
On that tragic day.
On December 23, 2001, a tragic incident happened. At about 11:45 a.m. Mohammed went to the stream to defecate. When he did not return even after an hour, Ameena started worrying.
After a while, several people brought Mohammed home by carrying him on their shoulders. Seeing her husband being carried, she got shocked. People who brought him home informed that Mohammed had suffered an electric shock near the stream.
It seems that when Mohammed went behind a dried shrub for defecation, a branch of the tree fell on the high tension wire that hung underneath the tree. The wires carrying high voltage 110 KV electricity when touched each other, caught fire and the dry tree branches too caught fire. By the time Mohammed tried to come out of the bushes, the fire spread all over and he was burnt completely along with his clothes.
Sheikh Mohammed: Victim of Bureaucratic negligence
