MARGAO
Who’s responsible for the tragic death of the young labourer from Bihar, 32-year-old Ashutosh Anand, who was electrocuted to death at Malbhat, near an iron panel where close to a dozen advertising boards were put up for display?
Five days after the incident snuffed out the life of the labourer, the concerned authorities, including the Margao Municipal Council, the Goa Police and the Electricity department seemed playing safe, with each shifting the onus of responsibility on the other to unearth the truth behind the untimely death of the man.
A host of questions have come to the fore after the tragedy, bringing these authorities into sharp focus, including the question about whether the authorities would have taken their own time to probe into the death if the deceased happened to be a local.
One, the incident has caught the MMC on the wrong foot, literally, with preliminary investigations showing the majority of the advertising Boards put near the iron panel had no municipal licences.
That’s not all. A question may stare at the Electricity officials whether they had at any time over the years ever tried to find out whether the advertising board lighted up with power connections have permission from the department, and whether the traders are required to obtain prior permission before connecting the advertising boards, more so when the commercial capital plays host to hundreds of advertising boards.
When The Goan sought to find out answers to these questions, it stumbled upon the fact that the three authorities have pushed the onus of responsibility to ascertain the reasons behind the electrocution on each other.
Margao Police station in-charge PI Tulsidas Naik is on leave for the last 10 days, and when The Goan asked Margao Sub-divisional Police Officer DySP Santosh Desai to shed light on the fate of the investigation, he was clear in saying that the Margao police has written a letter to the Electricity department to conduct an inquiry.
“These are technical issues and the Electricity department will be in a better position to shed light on the circumstances leading to the death of the labourer. The police will initiate action, if any, based on the report from the Electricity department,” DySP Desai said.
When The Goan contacted Assistant Engineer Anoop Rane, he conceded that his office has received a letter from the Margao police seeking a report on the incident.
"Our electrical inspector will conduct an inquiry to find out how the incident occurred,” he said.
Asked to shed light on whether the trader in question had erred to obtain permission from the department or whether a cable was required to be pulled to the advertising board from the shop resulting in the mishap, Rane said all these questions will be addressed by the Electrical inspector when the inquiry is conducted.
Incidentally, an MMC team headed by market inspector Santu inspected the spot and unearthed nine advertising boards around the iron panel. The market inspector has not removed the illegal boards as yet after being cautioned that the incident is under investigation and that the action would wipe out evidence.
The question that remains unanswered is when will the Goa Police, Electricity Department and the Margao Police conduct an impartial probe into the labourer’s death and place the report in the public domain. Five days have elapsed since the native of Patna-Bihar was electrocuted to death, but Madgavkars and the Civil Society will have to wait for these authorities to cap the report and initiate necessary action for negligence or otherwise.
Labourer’s death comes as wake-up call to MMC, Electricity department
MARGAO
The Bihar labourer’s death has come as a wakeup call to the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) and the Electricity department as the commercial capital plays host to thousands of advertising boards across its length and breadth, throwing questions about whether these advertising boards are legal after complying with the safety norms.
Margao MLA Digambar Kamat had told the media on the day of the incident that he has called for a report on the incident, again throwing up a question of whether he has also asked the MMC, controlled by him and the BJP, to find out the number of such advertising boards displayed illegally.
As things stand today, the MMC seemed to have not initiated any comprehensive survey of the number of illegal boards displayed across the commercial capital by unscrupulous traders without any permission, or, whether the civic body would wait for another tragedy to occur to survey the illegal advertising boards.
Questions are being raised about whether the MMC would initiate inquiry and action against the officials responsible for turning a blind eye to the presence of illegal advertising boards or whether the officials were forced to look the other way by the powers that be instead of directing them to clamp down on the illegal boards.
