Ganjam worker’s body sent home in record time amid West Asia conflict

Bhubaneswar: Souri Behera was supposed to come home from Oman on March 14 on vacation. But on Tuesday, three days after his scheduled arrival, he did come back to his native village in Ganjam but shrouded in a coffin.

The mortal remains of the 52-year-old worker, who succumbed to a heart attack in Muscat on March 12, was flown from Muscat to Delhi and then from Delhi to Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar, where his son, Pradip Behera, and nephew, Lalit Sahu, received those.

Souri from Laxmanpur village in Khallikote block leaves behind his wife, a daughter and two sons, who work as labourers in Dubai and Morbi, Gujarat. Souri was working in Oman for 12 years and his visa was last renewed three years ago. “Due to the ongoing West Asia tension and Ramzan, we had not expected to receive the mortal remains of my uncle so early. We assumed that it would at least take a fortnight,” said Sahu.

The repatriation was smooth due to the relentless efforts of International Odia Foundation (IOF) that co-ordinated with the Indian embassy in Oman, the company in which Souri worked, and other agencies involved in bringing the body back. Sahu was in touch with Dubai-based Pratap Nayak, the chairman of IOF, who co-ordinated with his members in Muscat.

“We came to know about IOF from our local leaders but before we could contact them, Pratap contacted us,” said Sahu, adding that he was constantly in touch with us. The IOF activated its people in Muscat for the work.

The family had first approached Khallikote MLA Purna Chandra Sethy and Khallikote tehsildar D Maleswar Patra on coming to know about Souri’s death. The district administration provided them with an ambulance to bring the body to his village from Bhubaneswar.