One injured by lightning strike at mosque being built under high tension wire

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A worker received minor injuries from the extra high voltage (EHC) lines passing over a newly-built mosque in G-block of Abul Fazal Enclave, Okhla, on Sunday at about 2:30 PM. The explosion was so intense that it was heard by residents living some fifteen houses away from the mosque.

Many residents rushed to the spot after hearing the blast that led to the short circuit in a meat shop just next door to the building. There they found a worker, Anwar, lying unconsciousfc on the first floor of the small mosque roof that is fast coming up in the area. For a while people thought he was dead. He was immediately taken to another building and after five minutes he regained sense. Later on he was taken to a hospital.

Anwar was lucky to survive. He said: “I was hit hard while removing a wire on the first floor of the mosque. As I was holding the wire with a wooden stick I survived the current and fell on the floor.”

Till now more than 50 people have died in lightning strike due to EHC (power transmission networks), according to some residents, who say that living in houses under power transmission networks is health hazard. But no lessons have been learnt from these deaths as buildings under power transmission networks have mushroomed.

A huge crowd gathered at the spot and started debating about the need for a small mosque in a 50 gaz area that too under power transmission network.

Constructing a building under power transmission networks is prohibited by the government. Last year the government had decided to remove all unauthorized structures in the way of major power transmission lines (Fate of 1,000 Okhla houses hangs in balance).

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had said: “We do not have any option but to remove constructions falling in the way of power transmission networks.”

It is understood that some 1,000 houses are constructed under the power lines illegally in Jamia Nagar. And this would be the first mosque to be constructed illegally under the power transmission network, said Arman Ali, the shopkeeper, whose television was destroyed with the impact of the explosion.

He said: “They are not doing the right thing by building a mosque under power transmission network. This will only put devotees under threat. There was no need to make it double storey building.”

For months, the construction of the mosque generated heated debate in the area as some educated local residents had tried their best to convince the committee not to build a mosque with a capacity to adjust only fifty people that too under EHS.

Also, many residents complain that every Friday the main road is blocked for hours creating problems to passers-by. Sources say that even minor scuffle had taken place between the two groups over the issue.

Unperturbed by the criticism and the legal issue, the committee went away with their mosque-building proposal, creating tension in the area. A day after the explosion, work continued as usual with labourers busy involved in construction work.

Some residents, who earlier had opposed the construction on ethic and value base, are now silence. They are scared to open up in the public for fear of retribution and being branded anti-Muslim.