M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, May 23: A civil society activist named Mumtaz Ahmad Khan has urged Palamu DC Shashi Ranjan to sympathetically consider the case of a 35-year-old Kiran Devi, mother of two, who died after an old and dilapidated mud wall of an abandoned house fell on her.
Kiran had gone to save herself from high wind and rain on Sunday at Bhuiyankhura of the Nuru panchayat under the Panki block.
Khan said the family cremated Kiran without post mortem. The family did not feel the necessity of the procedure which it ought to have done as then, the entitlement of the family to social security would have been stronger.
According to Khan, Kiran became a victim of nature’s fury which forced her to take shelter in a highly dilapidated and abandoned house at Bhuiyankhura.
The said house belongs to Rajeshwar Singh who lives in Italy and runs a business of marbles and tiles, according to his son Kapil Singh who lives with his family in Palamu’s Panki.
Panki BDO Nirbhay Kumar while speaking to lagatar24.com on Monday said he had been to the place of occurrence where the woman died under the debris of the mud wall of a house condemned and non-habitable.
The BDO said Kiran’s family declined to have a post mortem.
Asked if her death can be described as death caused by calamity or disaster of nature, the BDO said he consulted the disaster management authority in Palamu where additional collector Surjit Kumar explained that Kiran’s death does not come under the purview of the calamity/disaster of nature.
“She died in a freak manner but being a poor family, it deserves to be covered under the social security scheme,” conceded the BDO Panki.
“Let the panchayat elections and model code of conduct be over and we will cover this bereaved family with pension and ration card if not available to them so far,” the BDO added.
