E-Paper
An endless wait for this seven-yr-old girl
SEVEN-YEAR-OLD Rashmi keeps staring at the entrance of the hospital room, waiting for her father. But she does not know that her father was among the victims of the deadly blast that took place on the Cantonment Railway Station. Her father, Har Gobind Sharma, a resident of Charkuppa village in Aurangabad district, Bihar, had bought her here for treatment. Lying with multiple injuries on her face, left thigh, hands, she waits for a glimpse of her father, as if would just enter the room with medicines.
SEVEN-YEAR-OLD Rashmi keeps staring at the entrance of the hospital room, waiting for her father. But she does not know that her father was among the victims of the deadly blast that took place on the Cantonment Railway Station.
Her father, Har Gobind Sharma, a resident of Charkuppa village in Aurangabad district, Bihar, had bought her here for treatment.
Lying with multiple injuries on her face, left thigh, hands, she waits for a glimpse of her father, as if would just enter the room with medicines. Her bereaved mother, Sona Devi (30), told her that papa had gone outside to buy medicines and would soon come back.
The sobbing mother requests visitors not to ask the child anything about her father.
Rashmi, a student of upper KG in a government primary school of Charkuppa village, was being often bought to the Institute of Medical Sciences (IMS) by her father for treatment following some complications in her kidney. Her father owned a furniture shop in the village.
Both of them, arrived in the city by train on Monday, and remained in the hospital for tests etc. On Tuesday, the father and daughter reached the Varanasi Cantonment railway station to catch a Bihar-bound train, when the blast took place that left the girl seriously injured and killed the father.
She was rushed to the Singh Medical and Research Centre in state of unconsciousness. After gaining consciousness, she told the hospital people that she had seen her father flying in the air at the station.
Sona Devi, who was engaged in routine household affairs, was waiting for their return. She was stunned to know about her husband’s death from the relatives.
She, along with her relatives rushed the hospital here to claim the body of her husband. Rashmi is the only child.
Meanwhile, the railway administration, has handed over an assistance of Rs 25,000 in cash to the bereaved widow of Sharma for treatment of her daughter and a cheque of Rs one lakh as compensation for her husband’s life. The UP government has also given the cheque of Rs one lakh to Sona Devi for the treatment of her injured daughter.
When asked about the compensation of Rs six lakhs, a bereaved Sona said, “Rupya jaan se badhkar nahi hai” (Money is not more than life).
