Five Tribal labourers belonging to Odisha had migrated to Sukma district’s Chingavaram village in search of job. After working for a month on a development project in the village when they were returning to their village Bamni under Kosagumda block of Navrangpur district in Odisha, they had hardly any inkling that their journey would not be so smooth and that the all five of them could not return to their village.
Three alive out of those five labourers- Khagpati, Bhadar and Virendra when reached their village Bamni a day after the Darbha carnage and narrated their dreadful journey, people of the village could not just believe till they revealed how they had lost two of their relatives in the bloody Maoist attack in which more than two dozen Congress leaders, workers and security personnel besides two villagers were also killed and that bodies of their relatives were with Jagdalpur Medical College hospital for post mortem.
The villagers though reprimanded the three for coming without the bodies of their kin, they finally relented considering the dread unleashed by the gory killing the three had encountered. Slain labourers Prahlad Manjhi and Chander Manjhi were related to each other as uncle and nephew. While Prahlad left behind his wife Belmati, son Kailash, Navin and daughter Sonamani, Chander ram is survived by his wife Bhagwati, daughters Basanti, Balwati and one and half year old son Motu.
According to the youths after receiving their wages when they started journey back for their home, it was bus strike day one and hence they were forced to travel by a truck - CG 17 H 0415 which also travelled on the road passing through Jeeram valley where Maoist insurgents were waiting for the Congress convoy to reach. As soon as the truck entered the valley two armed insurgents signalled for stopping the truck which was coincidentally running just ahead of the Congress convoy.
Sensing trouble the truck driver tried to speed away his vehicle but when the insurgents opened hell of bullets on the vehicle not only it turned turtle blocking the road, all of the occupants of the truck received bullet wounds as well. After some time insurgents came near the truck and asked them to come out and surrender by lying upside down even if by that time two of their colleagues had died. After surrendering they were taken to a hill top by ultras and there when they requested Maoists to leave them as they were labourers the rebels spared their lives. When the Naxals disappeared from the hill top after killing Congress leaders and workers, the trio came down and reached Darbha health centre by ‘108’ Sanjivani ambulance service and from there they were taken to Jagdalpur from where they returned to their village.
Showing promptness while Kodenga tehsildar provided help of Rs 10 thousand each to the families of the dead to perform last rites of the martyrs, Odisha chief minister Navin Patnaik also sent Rs 2 lakh compensation cheque to each family on Monday. However, compensatory amount announced by Chhattisgarh chief minister and Prime Minister was nowhere in sight.
According to sources, the three alive labourers also got multiple gunshots and are nursing their wounds only through ‘desi’ system of heeling for want of fund and are on the risk of suffering infections in time to come.