After her mother and grandmother died in the accident in which a truck fell into a gorge in Hoshiarpur district on Wednesday night and her father hospitalized with a fractured leg, a five-year-old girl, who is physically challenged and mentally weak, has been admitted to an orphanage in Jalandhar.
Jashanpreet Kaur survived the accident, which took 20 lives and injured several others. With her mother and grandmother dying in the accident, there is no woman left in her home in Fatehpur village to look after her. With her inconsolable grandfather Jagir Singh remaining the only elder in the family, relatives and villagers decided that she should be sent to the orphanage and would be brought back after her father recovers fully.
"Jagir Singh and his son Harjit Singh were working as daily wagers and were just making both ends meet. Now they also have to arrange money for treatment of Harjit Singh, which would be much more than the government announced aid of Rs 25,000. The child requires extra care due to her weak mental condition and physical handicap, but there is none left in the family to look after her," said Kuldeep Singh, a resident of Fatehpur village.
Jagir Singh and his elder brother Bawa Singh lost 14 kin and relatives in the accident. "None has been left in the family to keep the kitchen running," a weeping Jagir Singh said.
The child was left at Guru Nanak Anath Ashram Jandu Singha, near Jalandhar, in the evening by two relatives of the family. "She needs extra attention and we shall provide the necessary care," said Surinder Singh, general secretary of the ashram.
Meanwhile, the aid of Rs 25,000 for the injured announced by the state government is proving insufficient as the victims were from poor dalit families.
Darbara Singh, a resident of the same village, said that he lost his son and grandson in the accident and his daughter-in-law was admitted in a private hospital of Jalandhar with badly fractured legs and expenses of Rs 1.10 lakh has already been incurred on her treatment in just two days.
Former Bholath MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira, who visited the grieving families on Friday, said that state government should not only bear the expenses of treatment of the injured, but should also give a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the kin of dead as all of them belonged to very poor families. "If the state government can give a compensation of Rs 1 crore and a decent job to the family of Sarbjit Singh, who died in Pakistan jail, then why should it not properly help these poor fellows," he questioned.
Source : The New Indian Express ,13th October 2013
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