5 BSES power towers fall on road, auto driver killed 23.03.2010

NEW DELHI: The busy Noida Link Road in east Delhi turned into a deathtrap late Sunday night when five high tension electricity towers toppled on to the road and crushed a moving autorickshaw, killing its driver and seriously injuring a young engineer who was on the passengers' seat.

PWD men working near the site had to use gas cutters to pull the victims out of the mangled heap of iron. The driver, Ashok Kumar, 47, was declared dead on arrival at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital. The passenger, 24-year-old Ajay Kumar -- who, ironically, had earlier worked for BSES Yamuna, the discom responsible for maintaining the towers -- suffered multiple facial fractures.

Eyewitnesses said one high tension tower fell on the road first and pulled four other towers down with them. The collapse, which took place around 11.10am, led to a three-hour outage in Mayur Vihar and a huge traffic jam in the area. BSES Yamuna has blamed digging work by PWD for the mishap while the latter said the work being carried out by it was nowhere near the towers. Initial investigation by the police suggests negligence on part of the discom.

The blame game began immediately after the accident. Washing its hands of the incident, BSES Yamuna said the road widening work being carried out by PWD had weakened the foundation of one of the towers.

However, earlier in the day, a top BSES official was quoted as saying that a crucial part of the tower's foundation had been vandalized and stolen, which weakened its foundation. Later, BSES Yamuna CEO Ramesh Narayan shot off a letter to chief secretary Rakesh Mehta, saying that "illegal work" being carried out in the area by PWD had caused damage to electrical assets worth Rs 2 crore. Narayan also said that the FIR lodged in the case had wrongly implicated and was silent on the role of PWD.

A BSES spokesperson said: "The incident occurred during road widening work on the Akshardham-Noida stretch, due to which the area around the foundation of these towers was disturbed and damaged. This work was undertaken without our permission and no prior notice was given either. We plan to file a compensation suit against PWD for both material and financial loss."

Officials from PWD, which is constructing a flyover nearby for the Commonwealth Games, shrugged off BSES's allegations. "Our construction work does not include any area close to the BSES towers," said a PWD engineer when contacted.

The Delhi Police too said that initial investigations had revealed negligence on the part of the discom. "We have registered a case of negligence under IPC sections 287, 337 and 304 (A) against BSES at the Pandav Nagar police station. The role of PWD is also being investigated but so far we have not found any evidence against them. However, we have asked the Delhi's government's electrical inspector to provide his expert guidance in the probe and his final report will be treated seriously," said K C Dwivedi, DCP (east).

Meanwhile, the injured passenger, Ajay Kumar, was shifted to the Jeevan Anmal Hospital in east Delhi. "He has multiple facial fractures and we will comment on his condition only after we have kept him under observation for 48 hours," said a doctor at the hospital. Ajay's Lucknow-based parents, currently away in Bengal, have been informed about the accident. The engineer was on his way to Karnal when a friend insisted that he drop by at Noida for a visit before leaving town.

The auto driver, Ashok, was a resident of Roop Nagar in north Delhi. A father of six, he had been plying an auto for the past 24 years.

Mohammad, an eyewitness, said the autorickshaw was moving towards Noida when the mishap occurred. "As the auto was passing a tower, there was a loud noise. Two towers, starting with the one next to the Mayur Vihar crossing, fell towards the Noida Link Road. The second tower fell right on top of the auto. The entire area instantly plunged into darkness. After four calls had been made to the PCR, the police arrived at the spot at 11.26pm, around 15 minutes after the incident," he said.

Though power supply in the area was restored after three hours, the authorities failed to control the ensuing traffic jam. "The jams stretched up to Akshardham on one side and the Noida Gate on the other side. Once the towers were cut into pieces, we could begin free movement of vehicles, although the Mayur Vihar crossing remained affected till noon," said a senior east district traffic police officer.