Ranchi, Aug 31 (PTI) The wife of a 38-year-old migrant worker from Jharkhand’s Giridih district, who died and was cremated in Uttar Pradesh, has urged the government to provide her with compensation.
Sumti Devi, 25, who cannot afford to travel to Uttar Pradesh to complete the formalities required for availing compensation, has also requested the state government to arrange her journey.
Her husband Sitaram Yadav was travelling on a train a week ago. The GRP found him in an unconscious state in the train on August 5 in Agra, according to an official in the State Migrant Workers Control Room in Ranchi.
The GRP took him to a hospital where doctors declared him dead, the official said.
“Agra police contacted the family in Giridih based on the documents found with Yadav. Initially, the family could not recognise the body from photos. Later, they identified it from a tattoo on the deceased’s hand,” the official said.
However, they failed to send to UP any document to prove that the deceased was a member of their family. So, the police declared the body unidentified and cremated it in Agra.
Yadav’s wife said that her husband had left the house at Aduadih village in Jamua block of Giridih a month back in search of livelihood in Rajasthan.
“Initially, we couldn’t recognise the body as we knew he went to Rajasthan. How could he be in Agra? When we saw his name as a tattoo on his hand, we recognised him. But by then, his body was already cremated. We belong to a very poor family. We didn’t have the money to go to Agra,” Sumti Devi told PTI.
She said that, according to the rituals, in the absence of the body, the last rites were performed by making an effigy of her husband, which was then consigned to flames.
The mother of three children, including two daughters, said Yadav was the sole bread earner of the family.
“I don’t know how to survive. I urge the government to help us get government compensation,” she added.
The control room official said, “There is a provision of Rs 1.5 lakh compensation, including Rs 50,000 to bring the body for unregistered migrant workers. Since his body was cremated, the family may claim Rs 1 lakh. But for that, the family needs to file an FIR in Agra and produce valid documents..
Sumti Devi said that the government is the only hope for the family in this crisis. PTI SAN NN
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