Kolkata flyover crash: ‘It took away my husband…I don’t want to lose my son’

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On Friday, the Malis’ house on Lal Madhab Mukherjee Lane, which had recently received a fresh coat of paint for an impending wedding, was the site of a condolence meeting. Gulab Chand Mali (58), who had been selling incense sticks at the Ganesh Talkie crossing since he was a teenager, was one of the first victims to be pulled out of the rubble.

Son Vikas Mali (28), who was to get married on April 20, said his father left for his stall around 7 am Thursday. It’s less than a two-minute walk. Vikas didn’t know it was the last time he was seeing his father. “I wish I had stopped him, on some pretext or the other,” he said.

But Vikas knows it wasn’t possible — Gulab Chand’s monthly earning of approximately Rs 7,000 was all the family had. He could not have afforded to miss a day’s business.

Around 12.15 pm, Vikas heard a deafening noise and rushed towards the flyover with friends. “I saw father’s stall, right next to the flyover. It was under debris. We somehow managed to take out his body. He had a deep head injury. We rushed him to the nearby Marwari Relief Society hospital. He was declared dead on arrival,” said Vikas.

Malati Devi with her daughter Rinki at their residence in Kolkata on Friday. (source: Express photo by Subham Dutta)

Gulab Chand, said son-in-law Jugnu Sonkar (42), was always wary of the flyover, under construction for seven years. “He felt it was inauspicious. He felt it affected his business.”

Vikas is yet to find a job. “He (Gulab) was hoping the wedding will change his son’s fortunes,” Jugnu said. His wife, Rinki, said, “We were supposed to buy some sarees for the bride this weekend.”

Besides Rinki, the couple’s three other daughters — Sangita, Soni and Neetu — are married. Their mother, Malati Devi, does not want her son to take over her husband’s stall.

“I don’t want him (Vikas) to go under that horrible bridge and sell incense sticks. It took away my husband…I don’t want to lose my son,” she said.

The compensation of Rs 5 lakh promised by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for the kin of the deceased seems too meagre for the family. “What will they do with it? They can’t even buy a stall at the nearby Chitpore market with it,” said Vijay Sonkar, Gulab Chand’s cousin.

Barely a kilometre away, Abhishek Kandoi still rues that his parents — Ajay Kumar Kandoi (49) and Sarita Kandoi (47) — did not take the 20-minute walk to the Marwari Relief Society hospital to visit an ailing relative. They took a hand-pulled rickshaw.

“It was sunny and humid when they left around noon; they didn’t want to walk,” Abhishek said on Friday. Had they walked, they could have avoided the ill-fated Ganesh Talkie crossing.

It was the same hospital where Vikas Mali had taken his father Gulab Chand.

“Around 1 pm, I got a call from my uncle who was waiting for my parents at Marwari Relief Society. He immediately asked me to rush to the Ganesh Talkie crossing…to see if they are stuck there,” said Abhishek, who is preparing for his CA finals this year. By the time Abhishek reached, the area was cordoned off by the police. He couldn’t get in.

“I started showing pictures of my parents on my cellphone to the relief workers. One of them recognised my mother’s picture and asked me to rush to Calcutta Medical College,” he said. His uncle, Vijay Kandoi (45), took over: “My brother’s body was squashed beyond recognition…my sister-in-law’s body was severed into two and burnt by fire caused by some explosion under the bridge.”

The couple’s younger son, Nikhil, in final year of BCom at Maharaja Sirischandra College, is to sit for his examinations in a few weeks.

Nikhil said they tried to find out about the rickshaw-puller who was ferrying his parents, but in vain. “He was squashed beyond recognition. We saw the CCTV footage; it appeared he was trying to turn the rickshaw and take it the other way. He could have abandoned the rickshaw and run away. But he didn’t,” he said.