A pall of gloom descended on Sitalkuchi in West Bengal’s Cooch Behar district on Monday as news of 10 kanwariyas getting electrocuted broke out.

The kanwariyas, most of them in their teens, were en route a temple when a suspected short circuit in their truck cut short their lives and left over a dozen seriously injured. 

Not long ago, on April 27, eight men and three teenage boys were killed in yet another tragic incident during a religious procession in Tamil Nadu’s Thanjavur district, when a temple chariot came in contact with a high-tension electricity line.

Deaths due to electrocution in India 

Electrocution has been a major cause of death in India, with the numbers rising every year. According to NCRB data, almost 1.1 lakh people have lost their lives due to electrocution from 2011 to 2020, the last year for which figures are available. This translates to nearly 11,000 deaths every year, or 30 fatalities every day! 

Electrocution deaths have increased a whopping 50 per cent from 8,945 in 2011 to 13,446 in 2020.

The 2020 figure includes over 2,000 females and nearly 1,700 minors as well. With 2,412 deaths, Madhya Pradesh alone accounted for almost a fifth of the total fatalities in 2020.

MP was followed by Maharashtra (1,499) and Uttar Pradesh (1,347). On the other hand, zero electrocution deaths were reported from Sikkim, Chandigarh, Ladakh and Lakshadweep in the said year.

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What are the major causes of electrocution deaths?

The major causes of electrocution deaths are short circuit, lives wires snapping during floods and waterlogging, and poorly constructed electricity poles.

Loosely hanging power wires, a common sight on Indian roads, also amplify the risk of accidents during religious processions.

According to experts, underground cabling could be a major solution to freak electrocution accidents and are widely followed in the West, but power companies in India avoid the same because it costs a lot.