Days after the tragedy in Maharashtra in which 16 labourers were run over by a goods train, one of the survivors said that they decided to walk towards their home as they didn’t want to remain stranded due to lockdown till the rainy season.
“We were 20 in one of the groups of labourers walking. Four of us including my nephew and myself could survive as we were asleep a little away from the railway tracks,” said Sajjan Singh Dhruve, a resident of Mandla in Madhya Pradesh.
Dhruve and his nephew Indal Singh sustained minor injuries in the mishap. They and two other labourers were part of a group of 20 labourers which left Jalna in Maharashtra for Shahdol, Umaria and Mandla districts in Madhya Pradesh.
“We had some money with us but not any conveyance to reach home. Due to lockdown and no work we were running short of money. Lockdown is getting extended time and again. Our concern was if we would remain stranded till rainy season begins we would not be able to even walk home. Hence, we wanted to reach home early while walking,” he added.
Shahdol is 858 kilometres, Umaria 862 kilometres and Mandla is 667 kilometres from Jalna.
“All the labourers in the iron rod factory at Jalna where we worked requested the management to make an arrangement for our travel to reach home. The authorities of the factory sent an e-mail too to the administration in this regard but there was no response. I had talks with my village sarpanch at least thrice. He assured me that he would do something but there was no result,” said Dhruve.
The bodies of the 16 labourers killed in the mishap near Aurangabad division reached Jabalpur in a ‘Shramik Special’ train.
“Our apprehension was that there might not be any relief from the lockdown for a long time. Then we decided to walk and reach home anyhow. Had the factory management or the government made arrangements for our travel the tragedy would have not struck us,” said Dhruve.
“It was on Thursday evening when we started walking. We later got along the railway tracks and had walked for about 40 kilometres up to Karmad when we got tired and hungry. It was about 4 in the morning. We all had food on the tracks itself. While 16 of the group later got into sleep on the tracks itself, four of us including my nephew and myself slept a little away from the railway tracks,” he added.
He said that the labourers slept wherever they could find place. “There was nothing in our mind as to who would sleep on the railway tracks and who would not. We wanted to take rest for a while and then walk again on way to Aurangabad. We were fast asleep. Four of us sleeping some distance away from the railway tracks woke up as we got hit by stones. We saw a goods train standing on the track where 16 of us were sleeping. We couldn’t understand for a while as to what had happened. When the train started running then we realised about the tragedy,” said Dhruve.
Dhruve lost consciousness after seeing the bodies of his fellow labourers and was taken to a hospital.
