Ambulance operators demanding Rs 45K to bring back body to Motihari

The ghastly train accident in Odisha's Balasore has claimed the life of a native from Motihari town in Bihar's East Champaran district.

With the ambulance service demanding Rs 45,000 to bring home the body of Raja Patel from the accident site, his family members are wondering how can they arrange the sum.

Raja, who along with six other friends had boarded the Coromandel Express train to visit Kerala, to earn their livelihood and improve the financial status of their respective families.

All the eight persons met with an accident in Balasore and now the ambulance service is demanding Rs 45,000 to bring home Raja's body.

"Raja was the only breadwinner of our family. He along with his friends were on the way to Kerala via Kolkata and Chennai to reach Trivandrum and boarded the Coromandel Express train. They met with an accident at Balasore. Now the ambulance service is demanding Rs 45,000 to bring Raja's body back home. How could we arrange the money as we are struggling for food on a daily basis. We thought that Raja, after reaching Kerala, would send money to us. Now, what would I do as the state or the Central government is not helping us," said Bhuvan Patel, father of the deceased Raja Patel.

Raja got married just a year ago and has a two-month-old child. His wife and mother are feeling helpless.

Raja along with his friends -- Sanjay Paswan, Vijay Paswan, Vishal Paswan, Umeh Paswan, Suraj Raut and Gauri Shankar Giri had boarded the Mithila Express from Motihari to Kolkata and then boarded one coach of Kolkata to Chennai Coromandel Express.

Two of Raja's friends, Vijay and Sanjay, are critically injured while other four have suffered injuries but they are out of danger.

"We are providing assistance to the families at the local level who lost their lives in the Odisha train tragedy. We have not received official data of the deaths. The Railway Department had announced compensation for the family members of the victims," said Saurav Jorwal, District Magistrate, East Champaran.

Meanwhile, the Bihar government has decided to send a team of officials to provide assistance to the victims who were injured or died in the Balasore railway tragedy.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has asked the state Chief Secretary Amir Subhani to constitute a team which will comprise a District Magistrate rank officer and panel of doctors and other employees.

--IANS

ajk/khz/