Noida: Two migrant workers from Bihar collapse at railway station, die

GREATER NOIDA

: Two migrant workers in the city, who were finally heading back home to their village in Bihar, collapsed while boarding a Shramik Special train in

Dadri

and later died in hospital.


While one of the deceased, Ravi Kant, suffered a seizure at the platform, the other, Sujay, fell unconscious while waiting in line to enter the station.

Police said both were rushed to the Community Health Centre in Dadri and later to District Hospital where they passed away. Police conducted an autopsy after health officials confirmed that they did not have

Covid-19

, and later handed over the body to relatives.

Over the past two months following the

lockdown

, hundreds of thousands of migrant workers have set out for their hometowns – sometimes thousands of kilometres away – on foot, cycles, autos or trucks. Several of them have died, either in accidents or from hunger and exhaustion during the journey. In the scorching heat, hundreds of families have been forced to wait in queues, many times without food or water.

The latest incidents took place on Tuesday afternoon when the two workers reached Dadri to board the special train scheduled to go to Bihar’s Danapur. Ravi Kant, from Aurangabad, suffered a seizure at the platform when he was entering the train at 3pm.

Mantosh Kumar, his brother-in-law who was with him, told TOI that they had purchased a 1kg pack of Chyawanprash thinking it would help them hold their appetite in the long journey. “I was telling him to wait as I was hoping that the government officials might serve food after the journey starts. But, he was hungry. He did not listen and ate almost 250 grams of it. As we reached the train, he suffered a seizure,” he said. Police constables who were present there rushed him to the CHC in Dadri.

Dr Amit Kumar, in-charge at Dadri CHC, told TOI that Ravi was critical. “It seemed that he vomited while having a seizure and later choked on the vomit. He needed a ventilator so we had referred him to the district hospital,” he said. He succumbed at the hospital during treatment.

At 2pm, Sujay from Usri Bazar district in Bihar was waiting in the queue of passengers to reach Dadri

railway station

from a shelter camp fell unconscious near Cruise Divine hospital.

Ajay Ram, his brother, told TOI that he had all of a sudden suffered a stroke and fell. “We took him to a nearby hospital but they refused to examine him. The cops rushed him to CHC Dadri from where he was referred to District Hospital. But minutes into the hospital, he died.”

A doctor at the CHC said Sujay’s condition was inconclusive. “We presumed that he suffered a heat stroke, but since he had breathing problems too, we referred him to the hospital,” he said.

Police conducted autopsies, which showed ‘advanced lung disease’ as the cause of their death. Their families, however, said that they had no history of any such disease. Ajay Ram blamed the government for the death of his brother. “What did they think when they suddenly decided to shut down everything? My brother was so happy that we were finally going home after battling hunger for months,” said Ajay Ram.

Satish Kumar, ACP (Dadri) said that due process was followed after the death of the two workers. “The bodies were handed over to the respective family members after it was confirmed they did not have Covid-19. No FIR was lodged as there was no complaint of foul play by the family,” he said.