Kumar Subba died a lonely death in Delhi, originally from Kurseong, he was living in a rented house in Munirka, where he was found dead.
The police had declared the body to be unclaimed, despite a few social organizations heading to claim the dead body.
After Delhi Police refused to hand over the dead body, those concerned contacted Ms. Rebecca Rai who is an employee of the Gorkahland Territorial Administration’s initiative “Gorkha Helpline” in Delhi. She is also the Gorkha representative with the Delhi Police for North East Folks, a dedicated group of volunteers who assist Delhi Police in matters relating to the North East Community.
After being approached by Ms. Rai, ACP/SHO OF Vasant Vihar police station handed over the body to her. Since Late. Kumar Subba’s family was too poor to afford to travel to Delhi, his funeral had to be conducted in Delhi itself.
Generally, this is when our people have to face the most difficulty.
Lack of a proper organization representing Gorkhas in Delhi had meant that often the funeral of such individuals was delayed, as it took forever to collect funds for the cremation.
This time around though, a group created, by Col. Sukul Pradhan (Retd) specifically for conducting funerals of Gorkhas who die in Delhi and cannot be brought back home, was there to fill the gap.
Concerned Gorkhas from across India donated to the group “Sanskar Subidha Sewa - SSS” started by Col. Sukul Pradhan and in a short span around Rs 17000 had been collected.
Led by Rebecca and Col. Pradhan around 20 concerned Gorkhas attended the funeral of Late. Kumar Subba, and even though he died alone, he had people with him on his final journey.
We asked Col. Pradhan why he started the SSS group, he said, “there have been lots of deaths of Gorkhas in the past, many of whom could not be taken back to their native places… so whenever we had to conduct a funeral we almost head to beg money from people… I used to feel hurt… Our community is one of the most generous communities on earth, and here we were collecting Rs 100 and Rs 50 for a funeral… so I decided that it was high time we started to take care of our own, and provided a dignified funeral to those who could not make it back home.”
He adds, “We are capable of taking care of our own, and the fact that within a few hours we had collected around Rs 17000 for the funeral proves me correct… if we learn to organize, our people will open their hearts for the right cause.”
In total, around Rs 6500 was the total cost of the funeral and the donors have told Col.Pradhan to keep the funds with SSS, so that they will have money in hand, next time a need arises.
Rebecca is relieved, she says, “we have to deal with so many cases relating to Gorkhas in Delhi every month, and there are only a handful of people who are always there in times of need… it’s a relief that now the greater Gorkha community from across India and the world is connecting with us, as this will help us to provide help to many more people.”
We THANK everyone, who donated and who attended the funeral… in far away Delhi, you all showed the real Gorkha Dil.
No comments:
Post a Comment