29 electrocuted in Ram Navami fete

By K. Balchand

DALTONGANJ, APRIL 13. Ram Navami celebrations in the Chotanagpur belt of south Bihar ended on a tragic note when at least 29 revellers, mostly youths were electrocuted early today. A three- year-old girl was killed and four persons were injured.

The incident occurred at the Lal Kotha Chowk also known as the Kasai Mohallah as soon as the celebrations began. The celebrations are spread over two nights in these parts, the highlight of which is the processions consisting of `raths' taken out by various `akharas', popularly called `Jhandas'.

There were around 50 `raths' which had to wind their way through the town, following a 80-year-old tradition. They had all made a similar trip a day earlier. The first one successfully negotiated a turn, but the dome of the second `rath' was slightly taller.

The organisers feared that the `rath' might touch the overhead electric wires and so tried to raise the wires with a bamboo pole to enable the rath to cross the road.

This proved fatal, as the 440V wires touched the high-tension 11 KV wires and this led to a short-circuit. The snapped wire lead to the death of the 29 people.

Local people, however, claimed that at least 50 people were killed, but the district administration maintained that they were yet to receive specific information about the casualties.

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