A primary school teacher was killed and two others seriously injured on Tuesday afternoon when a series of rural electricity poles collapsed onto the Tongi-Kaliganj road in the Shimulia area.
The deceased, identified as Shiuli Begum (45), was an assistant teacher at Tumulia Government Primary School. The injured, Tanmoy (16) and Pooja Rani Debnath (20), are currently in critical condition.
Witnesses and police said the disaster began around 4:00 PM when a cement pole near a rural electricity substation gave way. The collapse triggered a chain reaction, pulling 13 more poles out of the ground.
Shiuli Begum was standing near her house when the poles began to fall. As she attempted to run to safety, she was struck and killed by a CNG-powered auto-rickshaw heading toward Tongi. Simultaneously, falling live wires struck another auto-rickshaw, causing severe injuries to Tanmoy and Pooja. The accident halted traffic for three hours until authorities cleared the debris at 7:00 PM.
Initial investigations suggest a severe violation of safety protocols during the installation of the poles. According to Rural Electrification Board (REB) regulations, a 45-foot pole must be buried at least 6.5 to 7 feet deep. However, sources within the department revealed these poles were buried only 3 to 4 feet deep.
Furthermore, despite being installed in soft soil near a water body, the poles lacked mandatory concrete muffing or stone-crushed anchoring. While Kaliganj Rural Electricity DGM Md. Akhter Hossain blamed the collapse on rain-softened soil, local experts point to the shallow installation as the primary cause.
Kaliganj Police OC Md. Zakir Hossain confirmed the fatality and stated that an investigation into the matter is ongoing.
