Scared of robbery on train, Shramjeevi victim kin opt for drafts

All the seven families, who were earlier camping at the Jaunpur district hospital’s mortuary, had refused to accept the amount in cash. ‘‘They said taking so much cash back in a train to Bihar was like inviting death,’’ said Jaunpur Station Manager A K Shrivastava over the phone.

The families wanted the ministry to either provide them with police escort or give them demand drafts. Both demands were turned down by the railway authorities in Jaunpur. Finally, the officials asked them to go to Lucknow for the demand drafts.

While four of the dead — Pramila (35), her daughter Kavita (9), Arvind Singh and Subodh Mistri — came from different villages but from the same district – Nalanda, Subhash Thakur belonged to Gagaur in Sheikhpura district, Vinod Ravidas to Gaya and Kalamuddin to Phulwari Sharif in Patna. Two more bodies, which were lying at the mortuary as unidentified, were finally identified today as well – these persons too belong to Bihar.

The Uttar Pradesh government has now decided to pay the families the Rs 1 lakh it had promised, only through cheques, according to Jaunpur District Magistrate Anurag Yadav.

Though these cheques too were to be handed over to the families today in Lucknow, the matter will now take some time as the antecedents of the families are to be verified from the Bihar authorities, said the DM.