NHRC notice to UP govt over injury to schoolchildren due to high-tension wire

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has sought a report from the UP government into the incident in which over 50 students were injured after a high-tension wire fell into a primary school in Balrampur district.

Taking suo motu cognisance of media reports, the NHRC issued notices to the UP chief secretary and the chairman, Madhyanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited (MVVNL), seeking a detailed report within four weeks.

The incident had taken place Monday in Utraula tehsil of Balrampur district.

At least 100 children were present in the school when the incident took place.

The contents of the news report, if true, raise a serious issue of human rights violation, an NHRC release issued here read.

The commission would like to know about the status of the medical treatment being provided to the injured students along with steps taken by the authorities to prevent such incidents in future, it said.

The commission also expects the state government to inform about the status of the relief provided to the victim students, it added.

The human rights panel further observed that the reported incident portrayed "irresponsible and negligent attitude" of the MVVNL authorities.

Necessary steps should have been taken by the school authorities if a 11,000 kV high-tension electric cable was passing above the school building, it observed, adding that the authorities concerned cannot escape their responsibility of ensuring safety of students in school.

A large number of people had sustained grievous injuries and died from electrocution, weak and old electric wires, dilapidated electric poles and faulty transformers in Uttar Pradesh, the NHRC stated in the release.

The commission has also recommended ex-gratia relief to the victims.

The human rights panel said in the release that it had been insisting the state government and the authorities concerned to take effective steps for proper maintenance of the power supply infrastructure so that precious human lives were not lost in fatal accidents.

Taking a note of the incident, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had on Tuesday asked the MD, MVVNL, to ascertain the cause of the accident and submit a report within 24 hours.