The cries and wails of family members of the deceased got only louder when officers of Muchipara police station called the names of the corpses who were the victims of the devastating fire that broke out at Surya Sen Market early on early Wednesday. As they identified the deceased one by one, all hell broke loose.
Seeing her 26-year-old son Lalchand Purkait dead and another son Kalachand Purkait battling for life in CCU of Calcutta Medical College and Hospital, Esharun Biwi was inconsolable. “Maa tumi chole eso (Mother you come here)”, her son had said to her when he had called her on Tuesday night. But on Wednesday, Lalchand was not anymore to receive her.
In another sad twist of fate, Mithun Jana, 28, from Contai in East Midnapore, who worked as a client servicing agent at an event management company, changed his mind at the last moment and decided to stay at his uncle’s Sealdah Seed House in Surya Sen Market complex, instead of going to his in-laws in Baguihati. On hearing the news of his death in the morning, his mother-in-law Kajal Sarkar was at a loss for words as her daughter Namita Jana is seven months pregnant. Mithun and Namita also have a five-year-old daughter. “We heard the news at 7 am from his colleagues and immediately rushed to the morgue. But now how will I tell my sister that her husband is no more?” the sister-in-law of the deceased, Kabita Jana said.
Pintu Rabidas, 22, the son of deceased Jagdish Rabidas, 65, escaped unhurt as he was sleeping outside the market complex on his father’s advice. But his two more family members — uncles Tuplal Rabidas, 45 and Vicky Rabidas, 50, — were also killed in the fire. After this tragic incident, the Rabidas family that came from Jharkhand to earn a living in the city got reduced to only one male member Pintu, a contractor.