Dear,……….,
Namaskar. In one of my previous blogs, I had mentioned about a fatal accident that happened at the transmitter. The incident details are as under.
It was probably the summer of 1965 or 1966. I came
for duty at Radio Studio Centre at 9.30 AM. As soon as I had parked my bike and
had reached the main building gate, someone informed me that one of our technicians
on duty at the Transmitter site had got struck by an electrical current and had
been taken to SMHS (Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital) near Karan Nagar. Just
then some staff members in a jeep were preparing to go to the hospital. I also
joined them. When we reached the hospital, we found that the Technician’s (Shri
Sham Lal) body was going through the process of Postmortem. It was told that he
was declared already dead as soon as they reached the hospital. Mr. Omkar Nath
Pajnoo, my friend was with me. We next walked to Zaindar Mohalla where this
Technician lived. It was located about a kilometer away.
It appeared that the Technician was on the morning
shift. He was to return home by noontime. At that time, like rest of us all,
the Technicians were also not paid much. He had a wife and two children to
support. It was reported that he had also the bad habit of drinking almost
daily. After the 20th of each month, he was known to be borrowing money to
sustain himself and his family. On that particular day of the incident, they
had no rice at home to cook for the family. He had told his wife that he would
be getting some rice from a place near Pampore on his way back from duty and he
would be home before lunch time. At about 7.00 AM, the shortwave transmitter
was not getting on. The shift in-charge (Mr. Sehgal) was trying to put it
through. He would normally pose that he knew a lot but actually he did not know
much. While trying to identify the fault, he noticed a part inside the
transmitter which was like a switch misbehaving. It was a relay and it was not
holding in position after the power would be applied. He asked Mr. Sham Lal to
push hold this switch with a screwdriver. Then he applied the main power. As
bad luck, the screwdriver head was broken at one place and then there was a
nail in the heel of his shoe. When the power was applied, the current passed
from the switch through the bad screwdriver, then his hand, then heart then the
left leg, then the foot heel through the nail in the shoe to the ground. The
circuit got completed and his heart failed immediately. He was dead in no time.
Sehgal with the help of chowkidar pulled him out with the help of the garden
rubber hose. Then he had been taken to the hospital.
There was one Mr. Sham Lal Dullu a Diesel Driver also on duty that day at the transmitter. He also accompanied the body but got down on the way near the city. He was Mr. Sham Lal’s friend and he knew about his bad management at his home. Therefore, he got worried for the family of the deceased. He went to the house of Mr. Sham Lal. There he found that the children were still sleeping, and Mrs. Sham Lal was just sitting idle. He asked her, why she was not cooking meals in the kitchen? To this, she replied that they had no rice at home as her husband would be getting it on return from the office. Hearing this, he went to his home and returned with about 5-6 Kg of rice and some of his son’s clothes for the two children of the deceased. (He suspected that the children may have torn clothes and it would be a very sad show when office people would come with the body) He asked the lady to prepare the food and give it to the children. He told her that her husband had met a minor accident in the office and would return late. He was mentally preparing her for a shock of her life.
As soon as we reached the lane leading to the
deceased house, the body also reached the place in an ambulance. Soon there was
wailing and weeping all around the deceased’s house. At that time none of us
had sufficient money with us to carry out his last rites. The Assistant Station
Director (Mr. Kalia) happened to be there. He gave me a loan of Rs. 500/- to help the
family with funeral expenses. We helped with the cremation process with some of
this money and then spent the rest of the money for buying essential supplies/rations
for the family. We had a very nice and humane person as Station Engineer. (Mr.
N. Subramanian) He called me the next day to his office. He asked me to start collection
of money from staff for the family. He
started himself with a good sum. (Probably Rs. 500/-. A Big money those days,
equivalent to my 50 days’ pay) Everyone in the office was very sympathetic.
Every item was welcome, whether it was clothes, it was rice, it was flour, or
money. I would go around every month and collect money. We collected about
three to four thousand within days. Mr. Krisnamurthy along with his wife would
go to the family house every month and pay out of our contribution money a sum
equivalent to Sham Lal’s last month’s salary. Mrs. Krishnamurthy would always
gift Mrs. Sham Lal sarees and children’s clothes. Mr. Krishnamurthy used his
connections to get some help for the family from All India Radio on
compassionate grounds. Since Mr. Sham Lal’s son was in grade 10, he could have
only got a peon’s job in All India Radio on compassionate grounds. At my
suggestion/request, the job offer was got delayed because we wanted the boy to
pass Matric first so that he could be given the job of a clerk. We paid every
month for the home coaching of the boy from the money collected from the staff.
It was unfortunate that he failed the annual exams. We persisted and continued
home coaching classes for the next year. That year he passed the exams. We took up his employment
case again and got him a job as a clerk in All India Radio. He then rose to the
head clerk position. The mother’s life improved. I have no connection with the
family after that.
More of this story tomorrow. Bye for now.
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