BHUBANESWAR, MARCH 28: Tears flow down the cheeks of the parents of Vineet Padhy, second year student of Burla Engineering College, who was swept away by Mahanadi.``No amount of compensation will ever get back my son,'' says Debraj Padhy, Vineet's father.
The sudden spurt in flow of Mahanadi, in which eight students drowned on January 30, was attributed to the opening of the sluice gates of the dam. The State Government had ordered an inquiry and some engineers were suspended later.
Vineet's younger brother slashed his hands and legs with a blade after he came to know about his brother's death and his mother is yet to recover from the shock.
Debraj Padhy, an officer in the Tourism Department, now feels like a `handicapped person for my spinal bone is broken with my son's death.''
Vineet's parents were allegedly humiliated by a top district administration official of Phulbani when they requested for some help at mid-night to receive their son's body.
Bibhu Prasad Padhi, a lecturer in anon-Government college, used to save every pie from private tuition in order to realise his dream of seeing his brother, Kali, as an engineer.
In the absence of his father, who died long back, he was the friend, philosopher and guide for Kali.
Today, Bibhu feels lost, for his brother too died along with Vineet. As a sign of protest against the Government's indifference, he has refused to receive any compensation from the State. He wants the guilty punished. The State Government had announced Rs 1 lakh as compensation to the family of the deceased.
Having lost faith in the State machinery, the parents and family members feel the need for a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry to unravel the mystery behind the spurt in Mahanadi water flow on that fateful day.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
