'Forced to leave home for livelihood’: Assam families on victims of Goa fire

Guwahati, Dec 8: The family members of the three persons from Assam who died in the Goa nightclub fire alleged that their children were forced to go to the distant western state due to lack of livelihood opportunities in their area.

The three were working at the Goa nightclub when a fire broke out, in which at least 25 people were killed, and six others suffered injuries after midnight on Sunday.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, in a post on the microblogging website said, "Deeply anguished by the tragic loss of lives in the Arpora fire incident in Goa, where three of our own, lost their precious lives. Shri Rahul Tanti, Cachar, Shri Manojit Mal, Cachar, Shri Diganta Patir, Dhemaji. Offering my heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families. Praying for the swift recovery of all those injured."

The bodies of Manojit Mal (24) and Rahul Tanti (60), both working in the nightclub kitchen, have been handed over to relatives who were also working in Goa, while Dignata Patir's elder brother, who works in Kerala, has already left for Goa to collect the body.

Patir was a cook in the nightclub.

The family members of three deceased claimed that they have not been informed by the authorities about the arrangements being made to bring their bodies home.

Mal and Tanti's family members have alleged that their children were forced to leave the village and the state, due to lack of livelihood opportunities back home.

Both Mal and Tanti belong to the tea tribe community, and the villagers claimed that the condition of the tea gardens in Barak Valley was in a pathetic state, and so their children had to go to far-off places to earn a living.

Patir's mother also claimed that both her sons were working in far-off states like Goa and Kerala, as there was no source of livelihood in Dhemaji, which is a flood and erosion-hit district of Assam.

PTI