4 dead,1 in ICU as family seeking job consumes poison

Officials of BSP,the flagship company of PSU Steel Authority of India SAIL,had also promised to re-examine their case sympathetically

Four members of a family here died while another is battling for life after they consumed poison,alleging that Bhilai Steel Plant BSP denied them jobs on compassionate grounds after death of their father and had also disconnected electricity and water supply to force them to vacate their residential quarters. Moni Devi and her daughters Shoba,Sheila and Rekha were declared dead on arrival in the hospital while son Sunil Gupta is admitted to the intensive care unit of BSPs main hospital,where his condition is reported to be stable.

The family had locked themselves inside their house on April 7,threatening to commit suicide. However,the matter was presumed to have been resolved after local people and even elected representatives met Moni Devi and her children and talked to them not to take such an extreme step. Officials of BSP,the flagship company of PSU Steel Authority of India SAIL,had also promised to re-examine their case sympathetically.

Following the talks,Sunil had reportedly agreed to come out of the house at 11 am today. Believing the matter to be resolved,the Durg administration withdrew the policemen deployed outside the residence. Sometime late on Monday night,the family is believed to have consumed poison. It were the neighbours who alerted the police.

We tried our level best, said Durg District Collector Thakur Ram Singh. The issues were sorted out last evening. We will conduct an inquiry to find out what went wrong and why the family took such an extreme step.

Hailing from Ranchi,Sunils father M L Sahu came to Bhilai in 1990 and was posted as Deputy Manager Industrial relations. In December 1994,his body was found on the railway tracks. While the police concluded it to be a case of suicide,the family maintained he was murdered.

With her daughters small and son barely 18,Moni Devi struggled to make ends meet. The family was not entitled to pension as the Employees Provident Fund scheme came into existence in 1995,a year after Sahus death.

For several years,Sunil,who studied up to graduation level,had been applying to BSP for a job on compassionate grounds,but the management had rejected it,pointing out that as a company policy,employment could not be provided to family members in cases of suicide.

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While not entitled to same,the family continued to stay in the official residential quarters of BSP. Sahus three daughters all in their early 20s had started taking tuition classes,while he used to do odd jobs for a living.

In an e-mailed statement,BSPs Public Relations Department said that as per their policy,Sahus family couldnt get a job on compassionate grounds as he had committed suicide,and that the relatives had been explained this in writing as well as personally. The department also pointed out that the family had been occupying the staff quarters illegally,despite several notices for evacuation,and claimed Sunil had constructed a shed and was trying to use it for commercial purposes.

Finally on April 7,it said,electricity to the quarters was cut off,along with many other such similar cases. The same day,the family locked itself inside the house and sent out messages threatening to commit suicide. BSP employees said the family mostly kept aloof from others and did not have any relatives in Bhilai.

Among those who met them and tried to change their minds was local legislator Badruddin Qureshi,civil and police officials,a sub-divisional magistrate and BSP executives. While the family stuck to its demands initially,according to BSP,they had agreed to come out on Tuesday morning.

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As news of the suicides emerged,people gathered outside BSPs main hospital,raising slogans against the company management,district administration and others for portraying that their grievances were not genuine,and seeking action. They raised slogans against Home Minister Nankiram Kanwar for accusing the Sahus of blackmail.

Leader of the Opposition Ravindra Choubey demanded lodging of an FIR,saying officials were insensitive.

50 climb water tank,demand jobs

Late on Tuesday,as anger over the Suha family suicides rose,about 50 youths climbed up a tall water tank in Bhilai,also demanding jobs in BSP and threatening to jump. They alleged around a hundred of them had been denied jobs despite undergoing a BSP Trade Assistant and Trade Operator Trainee TATOT course years ago. Till late in the evening,the district administration,police and BSP management were trying to persuade the youth to come down. According to sources,the youths had been promised recruitment by BSP whenever vacancies arose. However,this had not taken place due to some reason or the other. Many of the TATOT trainees,who have been on agitation for the past several years,are now at the risk of becoming overage. A BSP spokesman refused to comment.