Teen electrocuted in Thane rain horror, locals allege repeated warnings ignored
A 17-year-old girl was electrocuted while walking through a waterlogged street during heavy rain in Maharashtra's Thane district on Wednesday night, with local residents alleging that repeated warnings about hazardous electrical cables had been ignored by authorities.
The victim, identified as Aliya Chandiwala, was a resident of Yasmeen Park in Mumbra near Thane.
According to officials, she had stepped out for some work when she came in contact with an electrified waterlogged stretch.
She was rushed to a nearby hospital immediately after the incident but was declared dead by doctors.
Police have sent the body for a post-mortem examination and launched a legal investigation to determine whether negligence contributed to the teenager's death.
Residents blame negligence
Angry residents accused the electricity department of failing to act despite repeated complaints about exposed cables running through the locality.
"You have no idea what the poor family is going through. We are exhausted from filing complaints. It's just been one run-around after another," a local resident told the media.
Another resident alleged that a live cable had been passing through a drain for months.
"This is sheer negligence. We've been warning the authorities for months. The cable runs right through the drain. Before the monsoon arrived, we urged them to raise and secure it, but nothing was done. We are tired of repeating the same complaints," he said.
Residents also claimed officials were difficult to reach.
"They neither answer the phone nor arrive on time. We have to call them 50 times before anyone responds," another resident alleged.
Fresh spotlight on civic safety
The tragedy comes just days after another rain-related fatality in Mumbai, where 11-year-old Vihaan Srivastava was killed after a tree crashed onto his school bus in Chembur.
Several students were rescued from the bus. Four suffered minor injuries, while another boy sustained critical injuries.
Following that incident, Mayor Ritu Tawde alleged that residents had repeatedly alerted the civic authorities about the dangerously top-heavy tree, but their complaints were ignored.
BMC blamed
Local residents had accused the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) of failing to address repeated complaints about unsafe trees in the neighbourhood, raising serious questions over civic preparedness and public safety during the monsoon season.
The back-to-back incidents have intensified concerns over monsoon safety in the Mumbai metropolitan region, with residents demanding greater accountability from civic and utility authorities over alleged lapses in maintenance and preventive action.
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