JOIN USBSES meter installation sparks fire, woman dies
A 50-year-old woman died, allegedly due to smoke caused by a small fire during the installation of an electricity meter by BSES officials in east Delhi on Thursday.
Police said though the cause of her death is yet to be ascertained, preliminary probe suggested she died of an asthma attack caused by the smoke.
A BSES employee too sustained injuries to his face in the accident. A BSES spokesperson said that the linesman was discharged from hospital after being administered first aid.
The spokesperson claimed that their investigations and field reports showed that the accident and the woman’s death were unrelated incidents. He claimed that the woman died of a heart attack.
Police said they have registered a case of causing death by negligence and are investigating the two incidents.
“There was a small fire in the house because of a fault during electricity meter installation. The woman is suspected to have died of asthma attack because of the smoke,” a police officer told Deccan Herald.
The incident took place at about 11.30 am on Thursday in east Delhi’s Gandhi Nagar area. The victim Trishla Jain lives with her son and husband who runs a garments manufacturing unit in the area.
Three BSES employees arrived to shift the family’s electricity meter from inside the house to an area outside their premises. This is part of a project to make the meters accessible to electricity officials.
“The officials went about the shifting operation without even switching off the power supply in the house. As soon as a wire was connected to the meter after installing it outside, there was a fire at the spot where the work was going on,” said Trishla’s nephew Sachin Jain.
“Sparks triggered in the electricity wires inside the house and there was smoke all around,” he added.
Trishla, her husband and son were sitting in a room when this happened.“She suddenly fainted and collapsed on the floor. Her tongue popped out of her mouth. Her son raised an alarm upon which neighbours gathered and rushed her to St Stephen’s Hospital where she was declared brought dead. There were no external injuries on her body,” Sachin told Deccan Herald.
He insisted that his aunt’s death was a direct result of the electricity accident.