Two reach home, bruised and heartbroken after losing 4 of their friends in Auraiya accident
KOLKATA: At a time when BJP is criticising the state government for its indifference towards migrant workers, a survivor of the road accident at Auraiya claimed that they were forced to get down at Uttar Pradesh border from a bus they were travelling in and asked to walk down to their respective destinations.
Sibu Karmakar and Kai
lash Mahato are two survivors from Purulia district while four of their companions from the same district fell victim to the incident in which 24 migrant
labourers were killed and 36 injured when a speeding minitruck hit a trailer in which they were travelling in Uttar Pradesh’s Auraiya district at around 2.30 am on Saturday.
When contacted, Sibu told Millennium Post, that he and Kailash were travelling along with four others from Purulia — Milan Badyakar, Chandan Rajwar, Ajit Mahato and Ganesh Rajwar — in the trailer.
Milan and Chandan were from Dumdumi village in Purulia Mafatshal police station area while Ajit and Ganesh were from Uparbadri village of Kotshila police station in Purulia. Milan, Chandan, Ajit and Ganesh were killed on the spot while Sibu and Kailash had a narrow escape.
Milan, Chandan and Ajit used to work in a marble factory in Rajasthan while Ganesh, Sibu and Kailash were daily wage labourers to maintain a park at Bankabalaji in Rajasthan.
After they were left with no money and with unprecedented suffering for the past two months, all six decided to return home in desperation. On May 14, they started from Jaipur in a bus provided by the Rajasthan government to reach Patna from where they had planned either to walk down to Purulia or get some other vehicle. “But, the bus was stopped when it reached Uttar Pradesh border at around 3 pm on Friday. We were told that the bus cannot be allowed to cross the border while we can move on if we want to go on foot,” Sibu said adding that though the authorities were ready to take them back to Jaipur in the same buses. They chose to move ahead by walking.
Finally, they, along with a few others, boarded a trailer that headed to Patna. “We all were deep in our sleep in the moving trailer with a tarpaulin cover on us. In just a second everything went wrong when another moving truck hit our vehicle at around 2.30 am on Saturday. I and Kailash had a narrow escape. Later we came to know that around 24, including four of our friends from Purulia, have been killed,” Sibu said adding that he received severe injuries on his chest.