Howrah toll 12,bodies given to kin

A family in Entally lost three of its members — Pradip Das (27),his 22-year-old wife Suparna and six-month-old daughter Pooja. The bodies were handed over to the family after postmortem.

Pradip’s mother Rajani said that the three were returning from Andul in Howrah district after attending a marriage ceremony. “Pradip was our only breadwinner. My son was married only one-and-a-half years ago. My life is finished. I have nothing to look forward to,” Rajani said.

Neighbours said Pradip,who resided with his family in a one-room tenement on Dr Suresh Sarkar Road,used to work in a nearby footwear factory.

On Sunday,state IT minister Debesh Das paid a visit to the family’s home. He is the only Left Front minister who visited the Das household.

“I went to Entally as it comes under my constituency (Taltala). I can’t comment on ex-gratia as it doesn’t fall under my responsibilities as IT minister. I express my heartfelt condolences to all the victims. I have heard that under a KMC scheme,the family will get some assistance. The accident occurred because the minibus was going at a high speed and tried to overtake another bus,” Das said.

Mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya also met the family members but no announcement of financial assistance was made.

On Saturday,within two hours of the mishap,Trinamool Congress MLA and Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly,Partha Chatterjee,visited the accident site and the hospitals where the injured had been admitted,followed by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Banerjee,who demanded that adequate compensation be paid to the victims,deployed railways’ infrastructure into the rescue operation.

At the Howrah General Hospital,meanwhile,where most of the injured were admitted,people thronged to look for their kin. Later in the day,the authorities released a list of the deceased and injured.

The police said they are investigating the antecedents of driver Vivekananda Barui,who is yet to regain consciousness and is admitted to hospital with serious injuries.

Doctors said that among the 10 injured,most are out of danger. Bus helper Mohammad Firdaus is also recovering. While seven of the injured are admitted at Howrah general hospital,one is at a private nursing home and the other two are at the Railways Orthopaedic Hospital.