Electric pole falls, kills man in Chitlapakkam

A day after Class 9 boy died after stepping on an exposed wire, a 42-year-old man was electrocuted after a weak concrete electric pole crashed on him, on Monday, while he was feeding the dogs outside his house. The deceased was identified as Sethu Rajan of Sharingan Avenue in Chitlapakkam who owned a  minivan and used to supply packaged  drinking water cans. Residents claimed that TNEB officials had not bothered to repair the damaged pole.

In the second such death in city suburbs in two days, a 42-year-old man was electrocuted after a concrete electricity pole crashed on Monday night near Chitlapakkam. Sethu Rajan of Sharingan Avenue was feeding dogs outside his house when the incident happened.

The police said the damaged pole that came down crashing could be more than 30 years old, while residents alleged that they had already requested Tangedco to replace the damaged poles which fell on deaf ears. This happened a day after a 14-year-old school student was electrocuted in Mangadu. Sethu Rajan, who earned a living by supplying packaged drinking water cans on his minivan, was  married to Shankari (35). The couple has a son and a daughter. A dog lover, he used to feed biscuits to the stray dogs every day. Around 8.30 pm on Monday, after finishing dinner, Sethu was feeding the stray dogs on his street when the electric pole broke and fell on the ground. He suffered a shock when the overhead cables fell on him. Hearing his cries, his wife and neighbours rushed to his rescue, and took him to a private hospital nearby. As he was in a serious condition, the hospital – which did not have enough facilities – referred him to another private hospital in Chromepet.

The police said his wife contacted the 108-ambulance service, but was reportedly told that they cannot pick up patients for private hospitals. Later, the family took Sethu on van, but he died by the time they reached the hospital in Chromepet.  A police team from Chitlapakkam sent the body to Chromepet government hospital for autopsy.

After getting the body when the post-mortem examination was completed, his relatives and public took it to the Tangedco office in Chitlapakkam and staged a protest to highlight the negligence of officials which led to Sethu’s death. 

Finally, Chitlapakkam police came to the spot and pacified them with the promise that action would be taken after an inquiry, following which the agitators dispersed after about 30 minutes. “As most of the electric poles are very weak, we had given a petition to the officials in April, requesting them to replace them – particularly the pole that crashed and killed Sethu. But there was no response from them,” alleged P Vishwanathan, a social activist from the locality. 

The State-run power utility should take steps at least now, he added. When contacted, Tangedco Executive engineer of Tambaram Parirajan admitted that the pole was weak. “So we placed a support for it. What happened Monday was an accident. Now we have planned to replace all the poles within a month,” added the official. The Chitlapakkam police have registered a case under Section 174 of IPC.