Lineman electrocuted in Pakyong

FAMILY ACCUSES SENIOR POWER DEPTT OFFICIALS AND PAKYONG PHC OF CARELESSNESS
GANGTOK, 25 June: Carelessness on part of the senior Power Department officials and employees of Pakyong Primary Health Centre are being blamed for the death of Ram Kumar Subba, a 46-year-old Muster Roll lineman with Power and Energy Department, who was electrocuted while working on a High Tension electric pole this morning at Pachey-Samsing, Shanti Turning, near Pakyong Bazaar.
According to Sanchaman Subba, son of the deceased lineman, his father received a call from a local resident complaining that a high-tension electric pole was posing a threat to his house as a landslide beneath the foundation of the pole had destabilized it. This was around 5 AM in the morning. Immediately, Mr. Subba received another call from the concerned Junior Engineer directing him to disconnect the wires from the damaged pole.
“After receiving the call, my father headed towards the site where the damaged pole stood and few minutes later, we heard that he had met with an accident,” said the victim’s 22-year-old son.
He added, “When we reached the spot, my father was still alive and lying on the ground with extensive burn marks on the upper part of his body.”
The victim was immediately rushed to Pakyong PHC, which is roughly a kilometer away from the spot. Reaching there, they found that not a single staff was available to look after the patient.
“Around 30 minutes later, an ambulance was arranged to take the patient to the Central Referral Hospital, Tadong,” said the victim’s son. As they reached Kishan School near Andheri, the driver of the ambulance [the only PHC employee on board] informed that the oxygen mask was not working because the cylinder was empty.
On reaching CRH, the doctor on duty declared the patient brought dead.
Another relative of the victim has alleged that it was carelessness on the part of the senior Power Department officials as the victim was directed to climb the pole without ensuring that the mainline supply had been cut off.
Surprisingly, it was informed that another lineman, who was with Mr. Subba had first climbed on another pole and disconnected the jumper without getting electrocuted. However, when the victim climbed on the other pole he was electrocuted by an 11,000 volts jolt of electricity as soon as he started working.
JE Gyanendra Sharma who had directed the victim to the work, said, “I received a complaint from the local people that a high-tension pole was posing a threat to the nearby houses and issued directions to disconnect the wires from the damaged pole so that supply could resume through non-damaged poles”. He added that he had directed the victim to begin work after he had confirmed [with his senior, an AE] that the supply had been cut off from the main line.
“The incident was an accident. At this stage I cannot say for sure how it happened,” said Mr. Sharma, who along with his senior officials was present here at the CRH.
Superintendent Engineer, Lagyap-Pakyong Circle, PK Pradhan, who was also present at CRH informed that he was waiting for a thorough report of the incident from the junior officials following which he will be able to give a statement on the matter.
When asked about the future of the victim’s family members, Mr. Pradhan said, “We will try our best to compensate the loss and provide a job to one of the family members.”
It is learnt that Mr. Subba was working as an MR lineman in the Power Department for the last 15 years.
Meanwhile, following autopsy, the body has been handed over to the family members and a UD case has been registered with the Pakyong PS.
“We will carry out thorough investigation after receiving formal complaint from the victim’s relatives. As of now only a UD case has been registered,” informed OC, Pakyong PS.