Chamoli electrocution incident: Suspended engineer among three arrested

Chamoli (Uttarakhand) [India], July 22 (ANI): Uttarakhand Police have arrested three persons, including Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan suspended engineer, for alleged negligence which led to the electrocution mishap at the sewage treatment plant under Namami Gange project on the banks of Alakananda River at Gopeshwar on Wednesday which caused the death of 16 people, officials said on Saturday.

“We have arrested Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan suspended additional assistant engineer Hardev Lal, joint venture company supervisor Pawan Chamola, and lineman Mahendra Singh on Friday evening for gross negligence in operating electrical appliances. They are being produced in a court,” said Chamoli superintendent of police Pramendra Dobhal.

On Thursday, a FIR was registered under Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and relevant sections of the Dangerous Machines (Regulation) Act, 1983, against Chamola, supervisor of the joint-venture company, and other unidentified officials.

The action came after following the instruction of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami to take immediate action against all the people responsible for the mishap.

Earlier, Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Dr. S.S. Sandhu also instructed the concerned heads to get the standards of power supply system tested in all projects, institutions, and government offices without any delay.

“Chief Secretary SS Sandhu has instructed all additional Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries and Secretaries to get the standards of power supply system tested in all projects, institutions and government offices without delay,” read a circular.

“He instructed that it should be ensured that the testing of safety standards is done according to the standards of the department or every three months,” the circular added.

CM Dhami has given instructions to provide Rs 5 lakh each to the dependents of the deceased and Rs 1 lakh each to the injured without any delay.