Fireman eletrocuted while rescuing bat caught in wires; family doesn’t accept body, seeks compensation

Speaking with The Indian Express, Om Jadeja, Ahmedabad Fire and Emergency Services (AFES) divisional officer, said “This morning, a call for bird rescue was received by Bopal Fire Station. The SOP (standard operating procedure) states that a live wire needs to be isolated first before an operation starts. In this case, the officer needed to wait for the isolation before starting the rescue.”

An internal inquiry is said to be underway, said officials, to determine if safety protocol was followed. Jadeja also referred to training modules for officers to avoid these kinds of situations in the future. “It is very unfortunate. But the purpose of holding the inquiry is to stop these kinds of situations from happening again. After the Uttarayan festival, we had over 50 calls (regarding animal rescue) in a day yesterday,” he added.

Anil’s uncle Manu Parmar told The Indian Express, “My nephew got electrocuted this morning while on duty. My brother comes from a very poor background and earned his living doing labour work. But now he can’t do that because of his old age. Anil’s wife Deepti has a B.Ed degree. Anil bhai was the only breadwinner in the family. He is also survived by two children, aged 3 and 1. We have demanded from the Fire Department that his wife should be given a job and compensation be given to raise the kids,”

“We haven’t accepted the body yet, and we will only accept it when our demands are met. They’ve said they will help the family but unless they give it in writing, we won’t accept the body,” he added.

Devkaran Sabariya (64), Union leader of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation Naukar Mandal, further said, “We support the demands that are put forth by the family of the fireman,” He further alleged that there is “no safety training and no equipment is provided to the fireman”. The protest was launched on Tuesday evening to support Anil’s family.