Electrocution from a high tension electric supply cable of Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (HESCO) left two children critically injured in Hyderabad on Friday. While the family and neighbours in Aliabad colony blamed the company for the incident, HESCO said unauthorized construction near the 132 KV transmission line became the cause.
The children, 11 years old Ali Akbar, son of Zubair Ali Mashori, and seven years old Ayat, daughter of Ali Gul Mashori, were playing on the roof of Zubair's residence in Aliabad colony when they mistakenly touched the cable. Both of them are cousins. A health official at Liaquat University Hospital informed that the children have suffered 70% to 90% burns injuries. He told that owing to their critical condition, both of them have been referred to a private hospital in Karachi.
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The SHO Hatri police station Ghulam Haider Chandio, in whose jurisdiction the incident occurred, told that many residential units in that locality are built either under the transmission cables or close to those lines. According to him, it is believed that the children hit some object which happened to be a conductor of electricity to the cables.
Amjad Ali Buledi, a local resident of the area, claimed that similar incidents had happened in the past as well because of the low lying cables of HESCO. He said time and again the local people have requested the company to move away the cables but the company is not listening their plea.
The company's spokesman Sadiq Kubar told that the people living under or very close to the cables have been served notices multiple times to demolish their encroachment but to no avail. According to him, Superintending Engineer Operation Circle Hyderabad Aijaz Ahmed Shaikh and other officials visited Aliabad after the incident. They later submitted an application in the concerned police station requesting for action against the people who have unlawfully constructed their residences under or near the transmission line.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 14th, 2023.
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