Mumbai: A 33-year-old vendor from Dharavi and an eight-year-old girl from UP were electrocuted and four others suffered shocks after they came in contact with an exposed wire at a makeshift soft drinks stall with illegal power supply set up by a packed road near a Ganesh mandal in Parel’s Kalachowki early on Sunday.The 33-year-old was running the stall with her husband. An FIR was lodged against its owner, Kamal Shetty. Fire brigade officials suspect that a portion of the stall’s frame was damaged while the crowd jostled for space on the narrow Dattaram Lad Marg, likely leaving a wire exposed. Water had also accumulated on a tarpaulin sheet near the stall. The road was so crowded that ambulances could not enter it.BEST has issued a notice to Kalachowki Vibhag Sarvajanik Ustav Mandal for faulty electrical installation. It said it had sanctioned an electric supply meter exclusively for the mandal and its preliminary findings showed that the stall had drawn an illegal connection from it. The mandal’s organisers denied knowledge of the unauthorised supply. Activists alleged that many such makeshift structures draw illegal supplies during festive rush and sought site visits across the city.A local said the road was packed with devotees visiting the Kalachowki mandal as well as the Lalbaug mandal, which was a short distance away. “Crowds were moving in both directions. While jostling for space, people could have come in contact with the stall and the accumulated water.” The resident blamed police for inadequate crowd control measures this year. “Crowds surged to such an extent that barricades on the footpath broke. Till last year, entry into Dattaram Lad Marg from B A Ambedkar Road used to be blocked but it wasn’t done this year.”The relatives of the eight-year-old victim, Raghini Yadav, said many panicking bystanders fell on top of her. Raghini had come to the city recently from Gorakhpur, UP, for her mother’s medical treatment for a thyroid ailment, said her father, Ghanshyam, a heavy vehicle driver. Before heading back, their relatives in Mankhurd decided to take the children to Lalbaug for darshan. Ghanshyam was not with the group.Balraj, the husband of the 33-year-old victim, Sujata Thodeti, was away at the time of the tragedy. He rushed back to the site after getting word but wasn’t allowed to enter the area despite his pleas. He said he later decided to check at hospitals. “I was told one woman was taken to Gleneagles Hospital. That is where I found Sujata.”The four who were injured, Ruhi Singh (8) from Santacruz, Sahil Tare (19) from Bhiwandi, and Tanvi Hande and Kiran Naik from Karjat (both 19), were initially taken to a nearby nursing home and later shifted to Gleneagles and Masina hospitals. All are stable. Tanvi told TOI that as they were leaving, the line going towards the mandal got mixed with the line that was coming out. “Due to that, a stampede-like situation happened.”Rohan Rane, a member of the Kalachowki mandal, said he was inside the pandal when he learnt about the tragedy. “Our members carried those injured in their arms and on wheelchairs to the nursing home and thereafter moved the injured on two-wheelers to hospitals as ambulances could not enter the road.”Sections 106 (1) (causing a person’s death by a rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide) and 125 (b) (rash or negligent act that endangers human life or personal safety and results in grievous hurt) have been invoked against the stall owner.We are questioning the mandal’s organisers and are probing the case, said a senior BEST official who was at the site. “When our officers reached the spot, it was revealed that the unauthorised line to the stall was drawn without our knowledge or approval. Had the mandal informed us or sought permission for the stall connection, safety protocols and load checks would have been enforced,” said Trushna Vishwasrao, BEST committee chairperson.Another BEST official said before installation of any meter for a Ganpati mandal, officials check the meter properly and obtain a test report from a licensed electrical contractor certifying that installation is safe.Activist G R Vora said BEST vigilance team should conduct visits and check if such unauthorised connections are being taken or extended at mandals across the city. “Thousands of devotees visit pandals every day. In such conditions, nobody knows who may inadvertently come into contact with an exposed wire.”
