Electrocution at hostel: Report blames Gescom, BCM

An inquiry team, led Assistant Commissioner C D Geetha, constituted to probe the electrocution of five students at Koppal Backward Classes and Minorities (BCM) hostel, in its report, blamed negligence of the hostel warden, Gescom staff and the BCM officer for the incident.

The hostel was functioning on rented premises near Bannikatti area in the town for the past 12 years. The hostel was precariously close to a 25 kV transformer. Repeated pleas by several citizens’ organisations to the competent authorities (BCM officers) to shift the hostel to a safer place, had failed to yield desired results.

The incident

A day after Independence Day, the hostel warden had instructed the students to remove the flagpost erected on the rooftop. While removing the flagpost, it came in contact with 11 kV power line and five children were electrocuted and two others escaped with minor burns.

The inquiry team, in its report, has mentioned that 11 kV line was precariously close to the hostel and that the power lines were not covered with plastic pipes. This is a major lapse. Students would not have died had there been a safety cover, the report mentioned.

Also, the calls made by the members of the public to the Gescom office, moments after the incident, went unattended. It was the assistant cook of the hostel who removed the main fuse of the transformer, the report revealed.

Interestingly, Additional Chief Electrical Inspectorate, Ballari, had submitted a report on the incident saying it was an ‘accidental electric shock’.

The report further pointed out that the building, owned by Basanagouda Hirevenkangoudar, has violated the norms laid down by the urban development authority. The building does not have access to sufficient air and light. Add to it, the owner has allowed a private mobile company to erect a tower on the rooftop, without taking permission from the competent authority, the report stated.

The report also accused the BCM officer and the hostel warden of the dereliction of duty and negligence.

The High Court of Karnataka, taking suo motu cognizance had expressed its displeasure on the incident, instructing the government to submit a report on the same within 10 days.