Bolt from the blue tears apart seven-year-old girl’s life in Hooghly- Parents among 26 killed on Monday
Parents among 26 killed on Monday, girl speechless from shock
Her parents had gone to their field to save their peanut crop from rain, when lightning fell. The couple became a statistic among the 26 lightning deaths in five districts in a day.
The child’s father owned an acre in a village in Hooghly, but would give his land to sharecroppers, as he ran a studio in the market. This was the first time that he farmed peanuts, a cash crop, on his land, as income from the studio fell drastically amid Covid-19.
“The harvested peanuts were heaped on the field and he went to cover them with a plastic sheet. His wife went with him. That’s when a bolt killed the couple,” said Gopal Roy, a Trinamul zilla parishad member. “We are all worried about the little girl, her education and her life in general,” he added.
On Tuesday, state government officials, headed by representatives of local bodies, gave her two cheques of Rs 2 lakh each as compensation for her parents’ deaths.
“The girl is a minor and has no bank account. The authorities will open a bank account for her and deposit the money,” said an official.
Pranay Samui, a neighbour, said no amount of money could compensate what the girl lost. “The little girl is so shocked that she hasn’t even spoken since last (Monday) evening,” said Samui.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Rs 2 lakh each for the next of kin of each deceased and and Rs 50,000 for each injured. His party leaders tripped over themselves to lavish praise on the decision.
The Mamata Banerjee government has a standard compensation for such mishaps, of identical amounts, Rs 2 lakh and Rs 50,000.
Sources said the state government asked its officials not to waste time in giving aid after Modi’s announcement.
Trinamul leaders visited every affected family on Tuesday, and helped with last rites. The party also announced that its national general-secretary Abhishek Banerjee would visit homes of the deceased in Murshidabad, Nadia and other places over the next two days.
Lightning killed three persons on Tuesday evening as well, two in Birbhum and one in Nadia.
The deceased are Birbhum’s Mungali Hembram, 27, a farm labourer, and Sukumar Garai, 56, a farmer, and Nadia’s Hasan Mondal, 48, also a farmer.
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