Hyderabad: On June 7 last year, a 70 year old man, who came to give application for a water connection, was electrocuted at a Mee Seva centre at Rajendranagar. The customer J. Ramulu, mistakenly touched an exposed electric cable on the window of the building. Police had found that the exposed cable was an extra fitting done by Meeseva employees to put an extra light bulb near the window. The cable was torn and the insulation was gone. The cable was hanging near the window near the Staircase to the Mee Seva centre. This death had created flutter in the area leading to a police investigation and arrest of three Mee Seva employees.

Similar to this there were also incidents of electrocutions in public places in city and in Telangana that attracted public outcry. Incidents of pedestrians getting electrocuted at Nampally in Old city, and other parts of city especially in rainy season had exposed the dangerous electric cables hanging on the streets.

National Crime Records Bureau data shows that electrocutions at public and private places in Telangana are dangerously frequent. Over 500 people were killed in electrocution in Telangana in just a year, NCRB data revealed. The number is highest among the southern states. 12 of the victims were electricity board employees while the rest were general public .

“One of the shocking incident was when eight people belong to a marriage party were electrocuted and 10 others received critical injuries while they moving in a truck at Devula Naik tanda in Kangti mandal of Medak district late in the month of May last year. The low hanging cable had touched the truck killing those unfortunate people,” said a senior police official.

Human rights activists claim that the TSSPDCL and the local municipal authorities, who are responsible for maintenance of the infrastructure, have not done much to ensure safety of public so far.