Girl falls on waterlogged city road, gets electrocuted

Rajkot: A 22-year-old pharmacist died due to electrocution after she fell off her scooter on a waterlogged road during heavy rain at Nana Mauva on Tuesday. The family of the victim, Nirali Kakadiya, on Thursday, accused the Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) of negligence and demanded that those responsible be held accountable and action be taken against them.However, the police have only registered a case of accidental death and started an investigation.
The incident occurred on Tuesday evening when Kakadiya was returning home, and the city roads were inundated with just 50 mm of rainfall. According to her family, there was a short circuit in a streetlight pole managed by the RMC due to water accumulation.
Kakadiya, stuck on the waterlogged road, lost balance and fell off her two-wheeler. As she tried to stand up by putting her hand on the divider, she got electrocuted and died on the spot. The incident, captured on CCTV camera, showed Kakadiya struggling to wade through the waterlogged road and, in the process, losing her balance. Before anybody on the road could come to her rescue, Kakadiya died, said her family members.
On Thursday, after the prayer meeting, Kakadiya's father Vinubhai alleged, “This is not an accident but utter negligence on the part of the RMC, and strict actions should be taken against the responsible persons to prevent such incidents in the future. There should be accountability for the pre-monsoon activity to avoid such incidents.”
According to videos that went viral on Thursday, the power cables providing electricity to the streetlight pole where Kakadiya died were found to be out of the ground and uncovered.
Sources said that the streetlight poles were in violation of the Paschim Gujarat Vij Company Ltd (PGVCL) regulation, which mandates the installation of ELCB (earth leakage circuit breaker) and MCB (miniature circuit breaker) switches on the poles. This would prevent short circuits during rain and save humans and animals from being electrocuted.
P M Haripara, the police inspector of Rajkot taluka police station, said, “We have registered a case of accidental death and recorded statements of relevant individuals to find out if the death was caused by negligence or was it an accident.”