Hazaribagh, Dec. 9: A numbing silence had gripped the entire village except for the cries and wails that pierced the chilly December night as the string of bodies came from Hazaribagh.
The 14 members of Thakur family of Ramgarh's Armadag Kori, including seven children, who were killed when an express train hit their SUV while taking an unauthorised shortcut across railway tracks near Bhurkunda station on Monday night, were brought home around 10pm on Tuesday even as their relatives, neighbours and friends struggled to come to terms with the tragedy.
While devastated Biglal Thakur (70), who lost his wife Rukmani Devi (60), sons Saryu (33) and Laleshwar Thakur (27), daughter Savita (25), daughters-in-law Manju (30) and Moni (24), nephew Raju (22) and seven grandchildren aged between two and 12 in the accident, couldn't utter a single word, his only surviving son Hemlal conducted the last rites of his dead family members.
Fellow villagers turned up in large numbers not only to mourn with the family, but also extend every possible help in such traumatic and troubled times, especially when the railways have refused to cough up compensation.
While a group collected money from every household, another gathered foodgrains, mustard oil, salt and other items of daily use that were stocked up in one room of the Thakur residence.
At the end of the day, Rs 70,000 was handed over to Biglal.
"The state government has announced ex gratia of Rs 1 lakh for each of the deceased, but no such promise has come from the railways. Hence, we decided to help the Thakur family in whatever way we could," Sunny Kushwaha, a villager, said.
"Thakur has lost most of his family members in this mishap. Now, he and his only surviving son, Hemlal, need support to overcome this tragedy and we are with them. So last evening, we all of a sudden took a decision to help the family financially and also collect foodgrains for them that will last till dashkaram," added co-villager Durga Mahto.
The dead were consigned to flames at Pailapani grounds, which is used by the villagers as a crematorium.
Here too, help was pouring. Every household in the village contributed wood.
While performing the last rites, Hemlal broke into tears, especially seeing the bodies of the children.
" Yeh kaisa nyay kiya, bhagwan (What kind of justice is this, God)," he whispered.
At the mishap spot at Lapang, villagers paralysed movement of trains since yesterday evening after learning that the railways were not ready to give compensation.
East Central Railway (ECR) authorities had said that as the villagers were using an unauthorised crossing and were trespassing on their property, there was no question of compensation.
But hundreds of agitators refused to call off the protest till announcement of Rs 10 lakh for each of the dead, job to a kin of the deceased, an overbridge at Lapang and a level crossing to avoid such incidents in the future.
A team of railway officials, led by DRM (Dhanbad division) B.B. Singh, later gave in writing that they would forward the demands to higher authorities after which the agitation was called off around 12.45am.