Family members of Peter Thangaraj pay tributes on his third death anniversary in Bokaro on Friday. (Pankaj Singh)

Bokaro, Nov. 25: He was a bulwark of the Indian side on the football field and an architect of the game’s growth off it. But as family members of Peter Thangaraj paid tribute to the former India goalkeeper on his third death anniversary on Friday, they rued why he settled down in Bokaro at all.

The former Olympian had left behind his wife, a son and three daughters who were married before his death.

Three years later, his widow Alfonsia Raj and son Harry Anthony Peter regretted Thangaraj’s decision to leave football-crazy Calcutta for the coal town in the early ’70s to work for Bokaro Steel Limited.

After offering prayers at his grave at Sector VI, the mother-son duo voiced together that Thangaraj deserved much more than what was given to him by the steel company and Jharkhand.

Bokaro Steel Limited did provide a quarter to Thangaraj, who worked for the PSU for over two decades, and his family at Sector III. However, his wife and son are yet to be employed. Harry had even represented the football team of Bokaro steel plant for six years but failed to get a job.

Asked about their expectations from the state government and Bokaro steel, Alfonsia replied, “At least a very small amount to help us meet both ends and bear my medical expenses as they are rising by the day.” She wished they had stayed back in Calcutta where her husband got “name, fame and money”.