Ragpicker electrocuted near Workshop Chowk

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, July 31

An unidentified ragpicker got electrolucted after touching a live electricity wire near Workshop Chowk on Saturday.

The incident took place around 3pm, amid light rains outside Jal Vilas Palace, when the deceased was collecting garbage. He came in contact with a live electricity cable lying on the waterlogged road surrounded with waste.

The deceased lost his life within few minutes of getting electrocuted and remained stranded in the pool of water until the police arrived.

Residents blamed the carelessness of the Electricity Department for the death. There has been no respite from the dangling wires. Last year, on July 12, a father-son duo also died due to suspension of wires in the rain. The incident had taken place at Peer Bodla Bazaar.

The SHO Police Division Number-2, Sewa Singh, said the victim couldn’t be identified. People in the area used to call him Ganja and said he was in his mid-thirties.

An ambulance also denied to take the body to the hospital after which another one was called to take the body for post-mortem.