Hyderabad/Patna/Chhapra: The ambiance is that of mourning, and the silence eerie in the Azampura village of Chapra, located in Bihar's Saran district, after the tragic death of eleven migrant workers from the state, who died in a massive fire that broke out in a scrap warehouse in Hyderabad on Tuesday night. Ever since the news spread, the entire village is in great shock, with victims' family members in tears.
Out of 11, eight hailed from Chhapra, and three were residents of Bihar's Katihar district. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, and Telangana CM K Chandrashekhar Rao have expressed deep sorrow over the untimely demise of the workers.
The initial finding suggests that when the accident happened, 15 people were present in the depot in which 11 people died and two people were rescued alive. The bodies of all the 11 laborers were found on the first floor. The deceased have been identified as Dipak Ram (36), Bittu Kumar (23), Sikandar Ram Kumar (40), Golu (28), Satyendra Kumar (35), Dinesh Kumar (35), Chintu Kumar (27), Damodar Mahaldar (27), Rajesh Kumar ( 25), Pankaj Kumar (26) and Rajesh (22). All of the aforementioned went to Hyderabad one and a half years ago in search of jobs.
Chintu, Damodar, and Rajesh belonged to Katihar and the rest hailed from Chhapra. “I received a call early this morning and got this painful news that my husband died in the fire incident where he was working. Twenty-five days back, he had come to meet us," Umravati Devi, wife of Dipak Ram, recalled while speaking to ETV Bharat.
She explained that it would be a big challenge for her to survive, especially with her livelihood entirely dependent on the salary of her husband. While seeing her mother crying, the three children sitting next to her also started crying. Bittu Kumar, another casualty of the fire, was the nephew of Dipak. Now, the family members are demanding a government job.
According to various media reports, all the workers were fast asleep during the fire. The victims ranged mostly between 22 and 40 years of age, save one. It is believed that the fire broke out after a short circuit. Ex-gratia, meanwhile, has been announced by both Telangana and Bihar state administrations.
Reacting to the painful incident, Rakesh Kumar, representative of local BJP MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy, met the victim's family and said that the MP expressed grief over the incident. Kumar further said that he is in constant touch with the government officials regarding bringing the dead back to their native village.
Out of the three victims from Katihar, Rajesh Kumar and Damodar Kumar hailed from Tapua village located in Govindpur Panchayat of Falka block area of the district. Chintu Kumar was the resident of Balthi Maheshpur of Kursela in Katihar.
"I also came to know through the Circle Officer that two persons, Rajesh Kumar and Damodar Kumar, of Govindpur Panchayat, died in the Secunderabad fire this morning. We will provide this information to the administration so compensation could be released as soon as possible to the family members,” Arif Hussain, revenue officer-in-charge, Falka said.
Amor circle officer in Saran district Mrityunjay Kumar said that he too got the information from the Bihar disaster management department regarding the death of two workers. He said that as per the announcement, compensation would be given to the deceased family members.
