The officials don’t visit anymore, the neighbours nevercame. It has been a year since Tejas Palyekar was airlifted to Mumbai andshifted into Deluxe Ward No. 2 of National Burns Centre at Airoli. His wait isendless. The only people that the 11 year old is eager to meet after hisdischarge from the hospital are his cousins “ Dipesh and Shubham. Tejas has notbeen told that he survived the deadly Naptha fire that engulfed the nullah ofDhaktallem, but Dipesh and Shubham didn’t.
The Palyekars - Chandru, Digambar and Tulsidas was thefamily that was hit the worst by the Naptha fire of August 20, 2011 the dayafter the fire broke out in Dhaktallem Valley. While Chandru suffered nopersonal tragedy, Digambar lost both of his sons Dipesh aged 15 and Shubhamaged 10 years. Dipesh, Tejas and Shubham were the proverbial brothers in arms.Hanging around on the banks of the Maimollem lake, dangling from tress, chasinghens and fishing. On August 20, the everyday jaunt turned a nightmare as thenullah suddenly caught fire. The brothers ran from the fire for dear life as rescuers picked them and rushed them toGMC. Tejas survived.
While the administration went into a hyperdrive announcingcompensations, the owners of the Naptha pipeline, Zuari IndianOiltankingairlifted Tejas to Mumbai where he has been stationed for the past year. Tejassuffered major burns on his hand, feet and back. He has been operated multipleof times in the past year and received multiple skin grafts yet he remainsbedridden for the past one year. “He has not walked and if he tries his burntand damaged muscles give way” sobs his father Tulsidas. Tulsidas who had beenemployed with a contractor at Goa Shipyard Limited has camped with his wife atthe Centre for the past one year. The tragedy does not seem to be ending forTulsidas.
Though ZIOTL has not been speaking on the cost to companyincurred on the health of Tejas, conservative estimates put the bill at Rs. 1.5crore including a Rs 42 lakh air charter to airlift Tejas. But a life saved hasnot saved a livelihood. For a man, who earned Rs. 15000 per month, Tulsidas haslost his job. “Earlier on they used to pay us Rs. 1500 as subsistence amountbut for the past few months that too has stopped. The officials came to us andtold us that you ask NHAI for the payment”, alleges Tulsidas. ZIOTL has beenfooting the bills for Tejas’s treatment and boarding and lodging for hisparents but the livelihood has been lost forever.
The incident had other tragedies. Soumitra Sankar Das,Leading Air Mechanic (LAM), INS Hansa and his wife Swati died after beingsinged by the first of Naptah fire. The couple were married last summer just afew months before the tragedy. Kuyaram Hiragir the 21 year old bhelpuri walawhose accidental lighting of fire near the Naptah leakage site triggered thefire died hours later. The fire left five dead but the horror will play againand again in Dhaktallem’s memory.
