'In Great Distress, Stuck Without Food Or Water': Last Words Of Migrant Killed In Aurangabad Train Tragedy

Deepak Singh바카라�s body was among the nine that arrived at Antoli village on May 9 in the evening. An excavator was digging the graves as the bodies were taken out from the hearse, gently, for some were dismembered. Under the twilight sky, the air thick with sounds of wailing women, the soil of Antoli reclaimed its young sons. Generations will come and go, but the fateful day will live in the memory of this village in Madhya Pradesh's Shahdol.

A day or so before leaving from Jalna, Maharashtra, Deepak had called his maternal grandfather in the village. 바카라�Bohot kasht mein hain, bhookhe pyaase band hain (We are in great distress and stuck without food or water),바카라� Bhola Singh recalled Deepak as saying. 바카라�I told him to stay put and manage somehow till the railway lines reopened. He was saying that half the people he knew had already left. I told him not to come on foot but he must have changed his mind later.바카라�

The 26-year old was among the 20 people who left from Jalna for their native villages in MP. The distance was about 850 Km. Walking along the railway tracks, they stopped at a place to eat and rest. Tired, they fell asleep. At around 5 in the morning, a train ran over them. Four of them, who were sleeping slightly away from the tracks, survived. Of the 16 killed, 11 were from Shahdol while five were from the neighbouring Umaria district. Both are largely tribal districts and lack of employment opportunities results in a major outflux of workers every year.

Deepak grew up with his maternal grandparents after his mother died and father remarried. He spoke little with his father. 바카라�I always thought that when he바카라�d grow older, he바카라�d understand 바카라� beta beta hota hai, us pe zindagi udkaye hue the hum (He was my hope for oldage),바카라� says Ashok, Deepak바카라�s father, who has four daughters as well. Deepak leaves behind his 22-year-old wife and an 18-month-old son.

Most of those killed in the accident were related to each other. Deepak바카라�s wife lost not only her husband but two of her brothers, Nirvesh and Ravendra as well. Another deceased, twenty four-year-old Dharmendra, was Deepak바카라�s uncle. He had gone to Jalna in January 2020. Tej Pratap Singh Uikey, a Gondwana Ganatantra Party leader who has twice contested the local assembly elections, said that Dharmendra had worked with him during his political and social campaigns.

바카라�He had called me in January and said that he was going to work at a steel plant in Jalna. He had no work in the village and at Jalna, he바카라�d at least be able to work and earn daily. I told him to stay in touch and return by June, so that he could help his family during the paddy sowing season,바카라� says Uikey. Dharmendra had also participated in the BSF recruitment drive, and though he qualified the running round, his knee problem led to his disqualification in the medical fitness round.

Shahdol district collector Satendra Singh says the MP government has given a 5-lakh rupee compensation to the families of each victim. 바카라�We have sent the letter to SBI and the amount would be transferred to them in a day or two,바카라� he says, adding that some families will be getting additional amounts under other schemes of the state government such as Tendu Patta Shramik Kalyan Yojana (for the families engaged in produce of bidi leaves) and the Sambal Yojana (for workers in unorganized sector).