Two of the four victims of Sunday’s earthquake in Kalimpong subdivision are not entitled to government compensation

 Succour eludes heart attack victims’ kin

Kalimpong, Sept. 23: Two of the four victims of Sunday’s earthquake in Kalimpong subdivision are not entitled to government compensation as they died of heart attack caused by the trauma when the earth shook.

Unlike in the case of the other two, whose deaths were caused by external injuries, it is difficult to medically establish that the heart attack was caused by the quake-triggered panic.

Shiva Kumari Pradhan, 57, of Lower Loleygaon, and Mangali Subba, 66, of Mungbell, died of heart attack during the earthquake.

Pushpa Agarwal, 37, of Thakurbari in the town and Bhim Tamang, 45, of Hupper Gairigaon village were the other two whose lives were snuffed out in the tremor. While Agarwal was crushed to death when an under construction building collapsed, Tamang was buried alive in a quake-triggered landslide.

“We have mentioned that the two (Pradhan and Subba) died of heart attack because of trauma,” said Dicky Bhutia, a deputy magistrate in-charge of disaster management.

The Prime Minister’s Office and the Bengal government announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh each for the victims of the quake in the state.

However, as things stand now, the families of Pradhan and Subba cannot hope to receive any compensation simply because of the nature of their deaths.

“The government norms say compensation is given to the families of those who die in natural calamities. We have to ascertain if the heart attack was caused by the natural calamity (in the case of the two women),” Amit Chowdhury, the deputy secretary of the state disaster management department, said on the phone from Calcutta.

Doctors, however, have said it is well nigh impossible to ascertain if the heart attack was caused by the earthquake. “It is not possible for medical science to establish the external factors that could lead to heart attack,” said Sonam Bhutia, a doctor attached to Kalimpong Subdivisional Hospital.

Medical science, of course, says a heart attack usually happens when a blood clot develops in one of the blood vessels that lead to the heart muscle or the coronary arteries. The clot, if it is big enough, can stop the supply of blood to the heart. Blood supply to the heart can also be reduced if the artery suddenly narrows, as in a spasm.

Gorkha Janmukti Morcha said irrespective of the norms and medical opinion, his party would press for providing compensation to the families of Pradhan and Subba.

TT