“A freak accident”

While undertaking maintenance of the solar panels at Doongerwadi on November 8, 2012 Arzan Patel, an employee of the company that has been hired to tend to the solar panels, fell from a height of around two storeys when the hydraulic ladder on which he was perched tilted.
The solar panels soar over the Tower of Silence at Doongerwadi and keeping the mirror surfaces of the concentrators clean is a hazardous task. Patel was hospitalized with a hairline fracture on his knee and damage to his left shoulder tissues. Luckily he fell on the ground; had he fallen on the dakhma wall, or a pavi within the Towers, he would have been critically injured.
The 24-year-old resident of Doongerwadi has been ordered rest and is still to resume his duties. He says the accident occurred because the supporting legs of the hydraulic jack had not been opened and hence the contraption tilted, throwing him off balance.
Terming the event "a freak accident… and, not as a result of carelessness or negligence,” Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) chairman Dinshaw Mehta in a letter to Parsiana dated November 20 stated, "You will appreciate that there has been no breach of (safety) precautions. Your letter was placed before the board at its meeting of November 20, 2012 at which this reply met with the unanimous approval of the board.”

Parsiana had written to Mehta on November 12 inquiring about the incident: "We would like to know how the accident occurred and what steps the Bombay Parsi Punchayet is taking to ensure that such mishaps do not recur. We would also like to know if all the safety precautions were followed and what existing procedures are in place for maintenance of the solar concentrators.”
It is essential to keep the panel surfaces clean so that the rays of the sun can be effectively reflected on the corpses placed on the pavis. Maintenance of the solar panels has been outsourced, states Mehta.