Guwahati, July 26: Assam Opposition leader Debabrata Saikia today moved governor Banwarilal Purohit seeking his intervention to check the "electrocution epidemic", a new "scourge" which has claimed 29 lives over the past two months across the state.

Electrocution deaths have risen since floods hit the state in mid-June. Four electrocution deaths were reported yesterday - two in Golaghat, one each in Guwahati and Jorhat districts.

Seeking the governor's intervention to stave off the new scourge, described by many as "electrocution epidemic", Saikia, a two-time Congress MLA from Nazira, in his letter to the governor said, "The victims include minors and college students. Unfortunately, state power minister Pallab Lochan Das appears to be indifferent to the point of irresponsibility...the unchecked spate of 'accidental' electrocution deaths constitutes a clear violation of the fundamental right to life."

Highlighting how science and technology are enabling people to live better and longer across the globe, the letter pointed out how Assam seems to be in a phase of "regression" wherein scientific and technological tools are "cutting" innocent lives short as a result of negligence on the part of those in positions of authority.

"The saddest part is the palpable lack of political will to stop this kind of preventable lapses," Saikia said, while urging the governor to "remove" Das on ground of "incompetence" and also make sure that the problem of live wires lying in the open does not require a "further two months and 20 lives" before it is resolved.

The Assam PCC had on July 9 said Das should own moral responsibility for the deaths and step down.

Das, a two-time MLA and first-time minister, also faced flak from AASU, which burnt his effigy in Dibrugarh and other places for his alleged inability to check electrocution deaths.