Deadly negligence: Fallen power line kills man, relatives protest

Demonstrators from Chak 352-JB block Faisalabad-Gojra Road.

FAISALABAD:

Relatives of a man, who died from an electric shock after touching a fallen electricity wire, staged a protest demonstration against the Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (FESCO) on Saturday.

They put Ghulam Mustafa’s body on the Faisalabad-Gojra Road and staged a sit-in, blocking the traffic.

Talking to reporters, Nadeem Hussain, one of the protesters, said that the main wire supplying electricity to their village, Chak 352-JB, fell to the ground from the pylon on October 23.

“We registered a complaint with the FESCO sub-division office about the wire and asked them to immediately repair it. However, no one from FESCO paid heed to our complaint.

Early on Saturday morning, Mustafa was passing by where the wire had fallen. He died after receiving an electric shock,” he said.

The protesters chanted slogans against Fesco officials and demanded the registration of cases against the sub-division staff.

Gojra Deputy Superintendent Police (DSP) Atif Imran Qureshi met the protesters and assured them that action would be taken against any Fesco employee found responsible for the death.

The demonstrators called off their protest and dispersed.

A FESCO spokesman told The Express Tribune that the chief executive officer of the company had taken notice of the incident and formed a committee to investigate it.

“Strict action will be taken against the sub divisional staff if their negligence had caused the death,” the spokesman said.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 26^th, 2014.