The residents of Delhi woke up on the morning of 25 June with the above sad news.
A 34-year-old woman died at the New Delhi railway station after getting electrocuted amid waterlogging due to
incessant rains in the national capital.
Sakshi Ahuja, a resident of Preet Vihar in East Delhi, reached the New Delhi Railway Station around 5:30 in the morning along with two women and three children. She held on to an Electric Pole to avoid water puddles when she suffered a massive jolt of power, causing her death.
Onlookers rushed her to a hospital in an attempt to save her life, but she died during treatment. The incident is a clear warning to the concerned authorities such as our RWAs to conduct electrical safety audit of all electric poles and electricity infrastructure in the colony to prevent any such incident in the future especially during the present heavy monsoon rains and water logging taking place.
BSES has also issued an advisory on the above and the same is summarised below for easy understanding:
1. Children must avoid playing near waterlogged areas/parks and electricity installations — even if these are barricaded.
2. Some of the unique problems faced during the monsoons are waterlogging of roads, strong winds uprooting trees and falling branches that damage electricity installations, resulting in outages. In order to safeguard human lives and electrical equipment, the authorities must switch off electricity supply to an affected area as a precautionary measure.
3. Residents must get the entire wiring in their premises thoroughly checked and tested by the licensed electrical contractor. Main switch is to be switched off in case there is waterlogging or leakage observed in the Meter cabin. The main switch should be switched on only on ensuring that all faults have been rectified properly.
4. Install an earth leakage circuit breaker (ELCB) to help avoid shocks and mishaps.
5. It is also advised that people must keep a ‘’Tester’’ at home. If a switch is wet, do not touch it. First use a ‘Tester’ to check if there is an electricity leakage. If need be, call your local electrician. RWA must urgently arrange for an electrical safety audit and an independent assessment by a competent electrical engineer such that the residents are reassured that their safety and security is being taken care of.
