Kathmandu. A 65-year-old man died after coming in contact with an 11,000-volt high-tension wire while spitting gutkha from the third-floor balcony in Ganjbasoda, Vidisha district of Madhya Pradesh, India.
Local residents have said that the spit of Prabhulal Gupta, who was standing on the balcony of a rented house in Gayatri Nagar, came into contact with an overhead electric wire at around 1 o’clock on Friday afternoon. Then he was severely burned. Gupta was a mason by profession. He is originally a resident of Chhatarpur in Madhya Pradesh and was living on rent in that house for the past 10 years.
According to electricity experts, because saliva contains water and soluble salt, it can conduct electricity under certain conditions. They say that if a continuous stream of liquid reaches the live electric wire, it can become a path for electric current. Similarly, an electric arc can be generated from an 11,000 volt wire under suitable conditions and current can also flow through the air.
After the incident, local residents have expressed their anger towards the electricity company. According to them, even when they complained about the high tension wires in dangerous condition near the houses of the settlement, the concerned authorities were ignoring them.
Padma Chidhar, the owner of the house, also said that she has repeatedly requested the electricity authorities to remove the 11,000 volt power line near the house. He alleges that although the authorities promised to move the wire to another place, it was not done accordingly.