After accident, a quest to pick up pieces, document by document

Government Railway Police (GRP) constable Suresh Chandra Das gingerly approaches a small room inside the dingy Railway Police Force barrack near Balasore railway station.

- Debabrata Mohanty

The black iron door is locked, the contents precious. Das opens the door, but does so carefully, inch by inch, afraid that they will all come toppling down. Inside the room are 150 rucksacks and bags, collected from the debris of Friday’s train accident involving the Coromandel Express, a goods train and the Yesvantpur-Howrah Express, that left 288 dead and over 1,100 injured in India’s worst rail accident in three decades. Each of these bags tell a story; but importantly, as survivors and even family members come looking, they contain things of value to the dead and injured, such as government documents that defined their lives.

Inside the barrack, there is a small register maintained by the GRP, with each bag given a number, its contents written next to it. One black bag contains a passbook, a mosquito net and a blanket. An orange bag, that belongs to one Bishnupada Maity, has both his Aadhaar and voter ID. The bag of SK Mansur Ali has both his birth certificate and his office increment letter. “We have to keep these carefully because the bags contain important documents of passengers who were travelling in the two trains. We have seen documents like matriculation certificates, PAN card and voter IDs as well. Some of the rucksacks have cash too,” said Das.