Auraiya accident: Family awaiting body of lawyer aspirant turned migrant labourer

Twenty-year-old Chandan Rajwar

wanted to be a lawyer but he quit college and joined a marble factory in Rajasthan to support his family, while Ajit Mahato, his 50-year-old colleague, was saving money to marry off his daughter.

The two had left the western state for their villages in Purulia district of West Bengal during the ongoing lockdown, but their families are now waiting for their bodies.

Chandan and Ajit are among the 24 migrant workers who were killed when a trailer truck collided with another truck in the early hours of Saturday near Auraiya in Uttar Pradesh. Both the vehicles were carrying passengers.

 

Two other men from Purulia also lost their lives in the same accident.

Purulia Zilla Sabhadhupati Sujoy Bandyopadhyay visited their modest houses at Dumdumi and Uparbatri villages on Sunday and assured the families the administration's help in bringing back the mortal remains of their dear departed.

"My son wanted to come back when the lockdown started. But no transport was available then. The money he had started reducing as days passed by," said Bhiksakar Rajwar, Chandan's father.

Rajwar, a mason, said he heard from Chandan for the last time on Thursday evening informing him that he would board a vehicle which will take him to Purulia along with some labourers from Jharkhand.

"Chandan had wanted to study and got admitted to a local degree college. However, there were livelihood issues. He quit studies and went to Rajasthan before the Durga Puja last year to work in a marble unit in Rajasthan," Rajwar said.

The wife of Ajit Mahato said he was saving money to get his second daughter married off. Their elder daughter got married sometime back.

The woman said, "He had called me on Thursday informing me that he would be back on Saturday. He asked me not to call him up frequently and not to worry. He had said he would update me about his arrival time. But."

Bandyopadhyay also visited the families of two more persons - Milan Badyakar and Ganesh Rajwar - who were killed in the accident.

The West Bengal government on Saturday announced a compensation of Rs two lakh each for the next of kin of those from the state who lost their lives in the collision.