Southco told to pay Rs 25k to each injured in bus tragedy

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) has directed power distribution company Southco Utility to provide compensation of Rs 25,000 to each of the injured in Sunday’s tragedy in Ganjam district in which a bus carrying around 40 people came in contact with a live wire.
The commission passed this order after hearing a petition filed by Prabir Kumar Das regarding the incident that claimed 10 passengers and injured around 22 others after the bus touched a low hanging 11KV live wire at Mandrajpur village near Berhampur city. The commission has directed Southco Utility to pay the compensation within seven days.
The rights panel also asked the directorate of medical education and training (DMET) to ensure proper treatment of the injured persons. While hearing the case, the commission expressed unhappiness over the apathy shown by power distribution companies.
“The power distributing companies are absolutely apathetic to the problem and pay no heed towards managing defective low tension (LT) and high tension (HT) power lines despite our recommendation in so many electrocution death cases. A timely action could have prevented the unfortunate incident which occurred on Sunday.” the commission said while passing the directive.
Besides, the commission has sought reports from the secretary of the energy department, secretary of commerce and transport department and authorized officer of Southco Utility on the issue. “The reports should be submitted before the commission by February 24,” the rights panel said.
The petitioner requested the rights panel to order the state government to pay Rs 10 lakh compensation to the next of kin of each deceased. As the government has already declared Rs 2 lakh ex gratia to the next of kin of the deceased, the commission did not pass the interim order. “I hope the commission will consider our prayer after getting the report from the state government,” said the petitioner. The next hearing will be on February 24.