Bhubaneswar: The Orissa government on Saturday announced a compensation of Rs.155,000 each for the families of the seven people who were electrocuted in Dhenkanal district late on Friday night, an official said.

District Collector Jamil Ahmed Khan said the money for the compensation would come from the chief minister's relief fund, the rural development department, the central electricity supply utility of Orissa and the district Red Cross.

Seven people were killed and five others injured near Sanda village, some 160 km from here, when a concrete mixing machine they were pulling accidentally came in contact with a high tension 11 KV overhead wire, he said. The workers, in the 23-35 age group, were working on the government road project under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna.

"The power lines are supposed to be six metres above the ground, but here it was only five metres above the ground. We have ordered a probe into the mishap," Khan said. The government will bear the cost of treatment of the injured, who are out of danger, he added.

Source : IANS