A pall of gloom on Monday descended on the Remta village in Odisha’s Bargarh district, which lost five of its residents in the tragic road accident on Sunday that claimed 27 lives in far-off Deogarh district.
The residents of Remta under Barpalli block were shocked on hearing the news of the accident on Sunday evening. The village plunged into deep mourning when the bodies after post-mortem were brought on Monday.
While some relatives and fellow villagers began to cry, some tried to put up brave face. But, grief was writ large on faces of all villagers who decided to give them farewell by performing mass cremation.
As many as 27 members of the Remta-based Bharati Gananatya, an opera group, died on the spot when the bus they were travelling in fell off a hilly road in Deogarh district on Sunday evening.
Sitaram Pradhan, the promoter of the opera group, also died in the accident. Sitaram, who was managing the opera group despite recurring loss and occasional profit for past 15 years, was travelling with his opera colleague. Kashiram Pradhan, a member of his extended family, too perished in the accident.
“My father had been part of the opera group for past couple of years. His association was seasonal and it was not fetching him good money. But my father had a weakness for acting,” said Surat Pradhan, son of Angad Pradhan, a victim from Remta village.
Several small-time opera artistes drawn from nearby villages had strengthened Bharati Gananatya which had been performing in different parts of western Odisha. Similarly gloomy situation prevailed in villages like Kumbhari, Bagabadi, Kanwar, Satalama, Kainsar and Barapalli which too lost their members in the accident.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday announced Rs.2 lakh ex-gratia for the next of the kin of the victims. The State government will bear the treatment cost of those who had survived the accident, he said.
