Loved ones dead in Odisha train tragedy, residents of Bihar wait for state govt to wake up

Having spent two days looking for Raja, Subash said he and the others went back home as they ran out of money.

“We had dialled the helpline at Patna and informed the local police. With the hope of at least finding his body, we came here (to Odisha) again. From among the photos of the deceased, I recognised one, but officials here said the body has already been claimed by someone else. Officials asked me to give my blood samples for a DNA test, and asked me to wait for four days,” Subash told The Indian Express.

CBI senior officials during inspection at Bahanagar Bazar railway station. (Express photo by Partha Paul)

He said he has so far not received any help from the Bihar government. “Since we have lodged a complaint with the helpline, they only called us once at our home to check whether we traced Raja. That hardly helps us. They should come here and see how people from Bihar are desperately looking for their own,” said Subash.

The Bihar government’s response to the accident involving the Coromandel Express, the SMVT Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express and a goods train last week, in which 288 people died and more than 1,000 were injured, is being questioned by families and relatives of the victims from Bihar. They say they have received little assistance from their state in locating and identifying their loved ones.

The number of passengers from Bihar who died in the accident – 48 deaths so far, according to state Disaster Management Minister Shahnawaz Alam – is second only to West Bengal, which has reported more than 100 deaths of passengers from the state.

The minister, Alam, told The Indian Express that the state government was bearing transport expenses and providing logistical support.

Passengers wait to board the Coromandel Express at Kolkata’s Shalimar station on Wednesday. (Express photo by Sweety Kumari)

“We have sent a team of four officials, including one from the disaster management department. They have been coordinating with the Railways and the Odisha government. Until Wednesday evening, the bodies of 48 passengers had been handed over to their relatives. We are bearing all travel expenses and providing logistics. Forty three people from Bihar are being treated at various Odisha hospitals and 19 passengers from Bihar are still missing,” he said.

Like Subash, many people from Bihar have spent a large amount of time and money travelling around Balasore and Bhubaneswar, looking for family members who were in the trains involved in the accident.

Most had boarded the Coromandel Express to head to Chennai and other cities in the south where they already had jobs or were looking for one. Others were returning home on the SMVT Bengaluru Express.

Among the challenges faced by relatives looking for these passengers in Odisha has been the language barrier – many found it difficult to even fill up forms to collect the bodies.

Rescue operation underway following an accident involving Coromandel Express, Bengaluru-Howrah Express and a goods train, in Balasore district. (PTI)

None of the senior ministers from the Bihar government visited Odisha after the tragedy. The Nitish Kumar-led government has deputed just four officers in Odisha to extend help to the scores of people coming from the state looking for their relatives.

The Bihar government also does not have a proper help desk in place to assist those who have travelled to Odisha.

Asked why a minister or a secretary did not visit the spot given the scale of the tragedy and the rising number of casualties from Bihar, minister Alam said, “The Disaster Management Secretary and I have been seeking updates through video conferencing and phone calls every three-four hours. Any aggrieved person can contact us if he or she is facing any problem in Odisha”.

Begusarai resident Nitish, another Bihar resident looking for his relative, contrasted his state’s response to the tragedy with West Bengal’s response.

“People from Bihar are roaming around in Odisha with no idea on what to do and how to do it. Our government could have at least opened a help desk for us, like West Bengal has done. We could then have directly gone there instead of moving around helplessly,” Nitish said. He was looking for his cousin, Sujit, who was on the train from Bengaluru.

Darbhanga resident Rakesh Kumar Yadav has left for his home after spending six days looking for his cousin Akhilesh. “Had our government made any arrangement, we would have waited here,” Rakesh said, adding that they had run out of money and had to leave before the result of a DNA test aimed at finding Akhilesh. Akhilesh was travelling on the Coromandel Express to Chennai, where he worked at an eatery.

Rakesh Kumar from Muzaffarpur district, whose relative is still missing, said the state government should have at least sent a Secretary-level official to the accident site. “Odisha government officials are at the forefront. Whenever any relative reaches Balasore, he or she is first offered water and made comfortable. Besides Odisha government’s officials, we also saw promptness from West Bengal government officials,” he said, complaining that a similar response did not come from his state government.