Kolkata: In a bid to prevent death due to electrocution from wet light posts or feeder boxes during monsoons, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has decided to install awareness hoardings at a number of light posts across the city.
In October last year, an elderly man had died of electrocution after he touched a trident lamp post while wading through a water logged street on Hossain Shah Road under Ekbalopore police station area.
The hoardings will be installed with the awareness message that no one should touch light posts or feeder boxes, particularly at the time of rainfall or during water accumulation or with wet hands.
"The advertising department of the KMC will soon finish the preparation of such hoardings. After that tender will be floated for fitting these hoardings to light posts," Member Mayor-in-Council (Light) Manzar Iqbal said.
It may be mentioned that the lighting department of the KMC has already identified certain areas in which the feeder boxes are not in proper condition.
Apart from the steps taken by the civic body, a senior official of KMC's lighting department said CESC should increase their vigil to prevent rampant hooking in certain areas. "Feeder boxes are often opened by the people for hooking that increases the risk of electrocution," he added.
In the case of Maksud Alam, who died on October 10 last year, it was found that the level of water was over the red tape of CESC's feeder box. "The person was unable to see that the feeder box was open," the KMC official said.
In August 2016, a 14-year-old boy Yash Bengani returning home from tuition was electrocuted as he grabbed a trident lamppost to balance himself while wading through thigh-high water on Ramesh Mitra Road in Bhowanipore after a heavy downpour.