After two nights with the injured and the dead inside railway coaches at the accident site, Sanjay Kumar made up his mind that he would not leave for Bangalore now.
The 31-year-old was scheduled to leave for the southern city later this week to join a marble unit as a labourer.
The sight of lifeless bodies, blood-spattered bodies and helpless people over the past few days — since the triple-train crash in Odisha’s Bahanaga on Friday evening — has left him traumatised.
Like many others from Sathi, a small village in Bahanaga, Sanjay has postponed his trip because of an unknown fear.
“Gari dekhney se dar lagta hai abhi, pata nahin kyun (I feel scared at the sight of trains, don’t know why). Itna laash, itna khun, humara gaaon pura chup chaap ho gaya (So many bodies, so much blood, the entire village has become mum),” Kumar said.
“I have cancelled my trip to Bangalore for the time being. Many others from my village and adjoining areas in Bahanaga have decided against travelling by train in search of jobs. All of them had their trips lined up later this month.”
Bahanaga is among the 12 blocks in Balasore district that witness migration of semi-skilled and unskilled labourers to states in south India in a regular trickle. They work in garment factories, furniture workshops and units where marble slabs are cut. Quite a few of them work as masons, too.
On Friday, three of Kumar’s acquaintances — Ajay Mahanti, Raju Munda and Sahil Kumar — from Bahanaga were scheduled to board the Howrah-Mysore Express from Balasore on their way to Bangalore in search of jobs.
The crash and the subsequent cancellation of trains have left the trio shaky and tentative. Like many others, they want to avoid a train ride. Jobs can wait.
“Several friends joined me for the two nights at the accident site for relief and rescue. There was one Raju Das, who got married recently and was supposed to return to Chennai after a few weeks. Yesterday, he told me he was not going now,” Kumar said.
Since services have restored on the stretch that saw the accident but trains are crawling through the section. Bogies are still lying upturned along the tracks.
Railway officials said there is a speed restriction for at least a kilometre in Bahanaga for all trains.
Residents of Bahanaga recalled that many of their known faces lost their lives or have been crippled after the disaster. The owner of a shoe shop from the local market, who was on board the Coromandel Express that met with the accident on Friday, survived but lost one of his hands.
He had an unreserved ticket but was travelling in S-2 coach., which was a reserved bogey. He was on his way to Bhubaneswar to hand money to his son, who studies there, the residents said.
“Every year, Bahanaga, like many other blocks in Odisha, organises a seven-day fair on the occasion of the Rajo festival. Many come here from different parts of the state,” Kumar said. “This year, the festival begins on June 14 but no one is in a mood to celebrate.”
