A living death with two splinters lodged in tissue!

From our Correspondent

AZARA, April 5: With two splinters of an explosive device being lodged inside his body for long eight years, life for Dinesh Thakuria is a living death!

Thakuria was one of the survivors of the April 6, 2009 blast at Maligaon in Guwahati. Thakuria and two of his colleagues had come to Maligaon on the fateful day. While one of his colleagues died on the spot in the blast, he along with his other colleague survived, as though to suffer the cruelty of life in store for him.    

Thakuria did receive Rs 50,000 as an ex gratia from the government as an immediate relief. However, the government washed its hands of his plight with the ex gratia. The amount was spent for immediate treatment that failed to take out the foreign bodies from his tissues. First he went to Nemcare in Guwahati and then to Apollo Hospital in Madrass, but to no avail. Now he is continuing his treatment with his own cost. For the past eight years he had to run from pillar to post – ministers, MLAs and departments who put a deaf ear to his pleas for funds.

Talking to this correspondent, Thakuria said: “The then Health and Family Welfare Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was made known of my plight when I met him. On September 18, 2010, he wrote a letter to the then Deputy Commissioner asking the latter to ensure the release of Rs 3 lakh from a Central scheme for my treatment. On his part, on October 1, 2010 the DC sent the letter to the Principal Secretary of Revenue and Disaster Magement Authority to ensure the release of Rs 3 lakh from the PM’s Relief Fund for Thakuria. However, the irony is that Thakuria is yet to get a single penny.”