Electrocution exposes lax infrastructure, negligence in B'luru

Bengaluru: The electrocution of a 23-year-old woman and her nine-month-old baby at the busy Hope Farm junction in eastern Bengaluru early on Sunday morning brought to the fore how infrastructural failings and officials’ negligence can prove deadly.

The accident occurred near a low-hanging tree on the footpath on ITPL Main Road, opposite the Arya Hub Mall that houses several stores, and ironically, the Bescom Whitefield subdivision office. 

When DH visited the spot on Sunday, charred remains from the accident, presumably the contents of the bag that the victim Soundharya was carrying, were on the footpath.

Near the remains were a portion of a wire with a charred end and a half-burnt water bottle. 

The spot is almost equidistant from both the Kadugodi and the Hopefarm Channasandra metro stations and is a road that sees heavy traffic regularly due to being a residential cum commercial area. 

Wires tangled up

Several low-hanging optical fibre cables could be seen precariously balancing from the compound wall adjoining the footpath, while some wires were tangled up on the branches of the tree. 

Busy junction

A traffic policeman posted at the junction emphasised that the casualties would have been much higher had the wire snapped later in the day.

“This is a very busy junction with hundreds of vehicles and thousands of people passing through it each hour. If the unfortunate incident happened even an hour later, it is possible several people could have been killed,” he said. 

View blocked

Despite being a wide footpath, the low-hanging branches of the tree render half the footpath inaccessible and the canopy makes it difficult to see through. 

The base of the tree is
very close to an electric pole, which also acts as an anchor to many hanging wires, one of which was broken and pushed to the side. 

Several pedestrians could be seen filing in a single line to pass through the tree or stepping down to the road to pass the branches and the burnt remains. 

Kumar, an auto-rickshaw driver parked outside the mall, said that the risk of hanging wires had always persisted.

“Our autorickshaw stand was where the footpath currently is, for about 20 years. Occasionally, wires used to snap and fall on the ground or in a drain but it never hurt anyone. This is the first time a fallen wire killed someone here,” he said. He added that the road was also well-illuminated at night, with several streetlights dotting the divider.