Bescom pays Rs 3.25 lakh ex gratia to accident victim

In a rare gesture, the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) has awarded compensation to an MBA student who had suffered burns in an electrical accident while cleaning cobwebs on the terrace of her house in Bismillah Nagar earlier this year.

Rumana Zulakha lost her right hand after accidentally touching an 11 kV wire close to her building, while cleaning cobwebs upon her return from college in the afternoon of January 5.

She suffered electric shock and was thrown down. “I was just a mute spectator to her plight,” her father Mohammad Ghani Yousuf told Deccan Herald.

Bescom, according to its General Manager (Quality, Safety and Supply), Mohan Kalluraya N, was not liable to pay Zulakha compensation as her injury was not fatal. “This accident occurred due to the victim’s negligence. Bescom does not award compensation in such cases. But considering her young age and future, the case was treated as an exception.

Zulakha was admitted to St John’s Hospital for about 30 days and underwent plastic surgery. She has not fully recovered yet. Yousuf, who claims to have spent about Rs 15 lakh on her treatment, had applied for compensation from Bescom. “I sold my house for her treatment. She is able to walk now, but the injuries are slow to heal,” Yousuf added.

A cheque for the said amount was handed over to the victim’s family on Thursday. The KEB Engineers’ Association, the KEB Employees’ Union and the KEB Diploma Engineers’ Association have together contributed Rs three lakh. The money will be spent on her treatment.