After the Jhalawar school tragedy in which lives of seven innocent children were lost and several others were left injured, heart-rending stories are emerging.
The building of Piplodi Primary School in Jhalawar district of Rajasthan had collapsed on Friday.
An inconsolably weeping mother of 12-year-old girl Meena and six-year-old boy Kanha, wished God had taken her instead and spared her children, reported news agency PTI.
“I’ve lost everything… I had only two children and both are gone. My home is empty… There’s no one left to play in the courtyard. I wish God had taken me instead and spared my children,” she said.
Kanha was the youngest among the victims.
Another woman, who also lost her child in the incident, raised questions on the role of the teachers who were present in the school at the time of the incident.
“The teachers went outside, leaving the children behind. What were they doing outside?” she said.
Apart from Meena and her brother, those killed were identified as Payal, Priyanka, Kundan, all aged 12, eight-year-old Harish, and Kartik.
The seven children were cremated on Saturday morning — five together on a single funeral pyre while the other two were consigned to flames separately.
Earlier, heart-breaking scenes were witnessed outside the mortuary of the SRG Hospital in Jhalawar as grieving mothers and family members collected bodies of their children.
Some of them clung tightly to the wrapped bodies of their children, refusing to let go, while others sat in stunned silence, struggling to come to terms with the sudden and shattering loss.
High-level inquiry ordered, compensation announced
Five school staffers have been suspended and a high-level inquiry was ordered into the matter.
The state School Education Minister has announced a compensation of ₹10 lakh to those families who lost their children.
Jhalawar District Collector Ajay Singh met the grieving families on Saturday to console them.
Later, he told reporters that appropriate action will be taken against those guilty. “Five school staffers have been suspended, and a probe committee has been constituted. If needed, an FIR will be registered. If suspension has to turn to expulsion, that will be done,” Singh said.
