City auto driver helps victims’ kin to identify bodies

Bhubaneswar: It was just like any other day for Biswaranjan Das, who was waiting at Bhubaneswar railway station in the wee hours of Monday to ferry passengers on his autorickshaw when three men approached him with a poignant request. The trio — who arrived in the state from West Bengal a day after the train accident at Bahanaga Bazar in Balasore district on Friday, where 288 died, to search for their two relatives’ bodies — was at their wit’s end for after hours of search through innumerable hospitals and morgues in Balasore and here, they could not locate the bodies. But they were not ready to give up and when they narrated their ordeal to Das and asked him to take them to a private hospital here, and subsequently to SCB Medical College in Cuttack and back to the city, to look for their brother and brother-in-law’s bodies, Das decided to ferry them and that too without even charging them a single penny.
This was on Monday and it’s been almost 48 hours and the bodies are yet to be found, but Das isn’t leaving their side till they fulfil their objective. “I haven’t gone home since Monday night and I don’t plan on going back until they find the bodies,” Das, who lives in Patia with his wife and two children and earns around Rs 700 per day, said.
The three men had arrived at Balasore with five others to look for their relatives and while the trio, one of whom was identified as Dakshin Dinajpur resident Basudev Roy, came to Bhubaneswar, the rest stayed back in Balasore. “I took the trio to Capital Hospital and AIIMS, Bhubaneswar for identifying the bodies but they couldn’t find them there. I went to AIIMS, Bhubaneswar on Tuesday again after they called about identifying a body, but it was all in vain. We even went to Cuttack but had to return to the city since we didn’t find the bodies there either. Later, when I came to know of the BMC (Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation) help desk, I got the trio in touch with the civic body officials to help expedite their search,” Das added.
The BMC has set up a helpdesk where relatives of the victims can approach the officials if they can’t find the bodies. The BMC officials will help the relatives look for the body by ferrying them from one hospital to another free of cost and even provide them with food and accommodation if the relatives are from outside Odisha. “I requested a BMC officer and arranged for accommodation and food for the trio,” Das said.
“We came across a body which could belong to my brother but the authorities are not sure yet. So I have given my DNA sample and if it matches, they will call,” Roy said.
“I have assured them of all help and will not leave them until the bodies are found,” Das said. The two bodies were yet to be found at the time of filing this report.