Nightmare on Vikas Marg

“His shift was till 8 am, and he wanted to speak to the contractor about getting leave to go visit his wife and children who live in Bihar,” says Ganpat Manjhe, Chhote Lal’s elder brother.

Lal was severely injured in the accident and his colleagues rushed him right away to Hedgewar Hospital in Karkardooma.

Lal worked as a labourer at Delhi Metro’s construction work at Lakshmi Nagar and other sites.

“We have been working at this site for the last 18-19 months. Earlier, we were working at another Delhi Metro site in Moti Nagar,” said Manjhe.

According to Manjhe, both brothers had been living in Delhi since 1993.

Originally from a village called Vijay Ghat Manjhitala in Bihar, Lal had three young children, two daughters and one son all below five.

“I have informed his wife about what happened and as soon as the body is handed over to us, we will go to Manjhitala for the last rites. His wife and children cannot afford to come to Delhi,” Manjhe said.

At Hedgewar Hospital in Karkardooma, Manjhe and his colleagues ran from pillar-to-post trying to find out when they can take the body home.

“Doctors say a postmortem needs to be done and we will probably get the body tomorrow. We were told that Chhote Lal was alive when he was brought in, but he had such extensive injuries on his head, chest, and feet that it was impossible to resuscitate him,” Manjhe says.

Chhote Lal’s body has now been transferred to another hospital at Tis Hazari where a postmortem will be conducted.

Manjhe is completely unaware of the fact the both the Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation have announced compensation for those killed and injured in the incident.

“I can barely afford to take his body home. Please tell us if anyone in the government can help us out,” he asks.

Lal’s colleagues can hardly believe what has happened.

“We all lived together at Ramlila Ground in Karkardooma and worked at the same site in different shifts. Lal was like my own brother,” said Rajan, another worker at the Metro site.