Brahmananda Swain, 45, who was injured in the accident. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, July 21: A schoolteacher from Housing Board Colony at Chandrasekharpur got seriously injured near the Buddha temple of the Mahabodhi Society today when a streetlight pole fell on the two-wheeler he was riding.

Brahmananda Swain, 45, suffered injuries in his right eye and right arm, while his two-wheeler was damaged following the impact of the fall of the pole near Exhibition Ground. The vehicle’s front portion, including its headlamp, indicators and dashboard, were smashed. Commuters passing by took a profusely bleeding Swain to Capital Hospital at Unit VI. Since the 108-free ambulance did not arrive in time, they brought the victim to Capital Hospital in an autorickshaw.

Local people also pulled the broken pole to the middle of the road and demonstrated for sometime till police reached the spot and dispersed them. Swain’s wife Pratibha, 44, said: “I was shocked to hear the news of his accident. I do not want to blame anybody, but would request Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation authorities to check the stability of the street light poles.”

Manoj Mohanty, who took Swain to hospital with his friends, said: “The civic authorities should at least survey the electric poles under use and the abandoned ones across the city and take corrective measures to avoid any such incident in future.”

Amiya Jena, another local resident, said: “Last year during rains, a similar incident took place in front of the Police Commissionerate office where a street light post was uprooted. The authorities should have started taking preventive measures since then.”

He also said many such dangerous street light poles and distribution network poles were across the city and the electrical engineering wing of the civic body must take urgent steps to identify and replace them as soon as possible.

When The Telegraph first contacted the corporation’s assistant engineer (electrical) Ajit Kumar Behera, he asked one of his junior engineers to visit the spot and take stock of the situation. “We are planning to carry out a survey of the street lights across the city, so that the status of the poles will be known,” he said.

He, however, hinted that incessant rain might have weakened the base and rusted the bottom part of the pole.