Kolkata: United by grief, Amphan victims’ kin pray no lives are lost this time

KOLKATA: Ten-year-old Arpita Gayen still has nightmares during rain and thunderstorm while Saraswati Adhikari pleads with her family members to not step outdoors in heavy rain. Angad Singh Sethi spends sleepless nights, haunted by memories of his brother who was electrocuted on a waterlogged stretch. Separated by kilometres, families of the city’s Amphan victims are united by their grief. The fact that a similar storm is set to hit again, around the same time as last year, has left them distraught.
Amphan had wreaked havoc in the city on May 20 last year, leaving 19 people dead from electrocution as bodies floated on waterlogged roads for several hours before they could be pulled out. Pintu Gayen, who had been leading colleagues through a waterlogged stretch of Becharam Chatterjee Road in Behala, was electrocuted near his home. His daughter Arpita saw the 37-year-old man’s body floating in the water, but no one — neither her mother nor her uncles — could step forward to pull him out. Ten days later, Arpita’s grandmother died of shock, unable to bear the loss.
“She panics every time it rains. Since the day she heard that a similar cyclone is approaching, she has been pleading with me not to go to work. I have informed my office and will work from home on Tuesday,” said Aparna, Gayen’s widow.
Aparna said she saw civic officials cutting down branches, cleaning clogged drains and stationing water pumps in multiple pockets around the low lying area near her house. “They seem prepared this year. Perhaps my husband’s death has taught them a lesson,” she said.
At Parnasree, family members of Pavneet Singh Sethi spent Sunday at a Gurdwara praying for his soul and hoping the impending cyclone spares the city. “We would have celebrated my brothers 32nd birthday on May 23 this year. We know how painful it is to endure the loss of a young life. We request the government and agencies, like CESC, to see that no more lives are lost due to electrocution,” said Pavneet’s brother Angad, who lost a 40-year-old cousin to Covid recently..
On May 20 last year, Pavneet had stepped out of their complex to wade through a waterlogged lane in order to get medicines for his father. His family had found his body floating 500m from their home. A year on, as the city is staring at a similar storm, Pavneet’s parents have been asking relatives not to venture out till the water recedes.