Nesco asked to pay Rs 4 lakh ex gratia to kin of electrocution victim
BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) has asked power distribution company Nesco Utility to pay Rs 4 lakh as compensation to the kin of Ananda Sethi, a native of Kalahandia village in Bhadrak district, who had been electrocuted on November 17, 2016.
The rights panel passed the order after hearing two petitions on the case. One petition had been filed before the OHRC by Babula Sethi, the son of the deceased, and another before the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) by rights activist Radhakanta Tripathy. This petition was later transferred to the OHRC.
“As the subject matter of both applications is the same, a common order is being passed in both the cases,” the OHRC said of its order.
The commission has sought a compliance report from Nesco within three months from the receipt of its order. If the company fails to pay up within the deadline, it will have to pay interest of 9 per cent per month on the amount from the date of the receipt of the order.
Tripathy said Sethi, a farmer, had come in contact with a live electric wire when he had gone to his fields on November 27, 2016, and had been killed. The wire had been illegally drawn by Kalandi Malik, a resident of the same village, to power his lift irrigation point.
Although Nesco had held Malik responsible for the accident, a probe showed that the power had been drawn from a transformer through a non-insulated open aluminium conductor.
“A layman, in our opinion, will not be able to connect an aluminium conductor from a sub-station/transformer. It could not have been done without the knowledge/connivance of the staff of the distributing company,” the OHRC said in its order. The OHRC concluded that the company could not exonerate itself of paying compensation.