Kendrapara, Odisha: Days after an Odiya couple committed suicide after their 7-year-old son died of dengue in Delhi, their family here is yet to come to terms with the tragic news.
Laxman Chandra Rout (35) and Babita (32) had jumped to death on September 8 from the terrace of a four-storey building in Delhi's Lado Sarai area when they failed to get a bed for their ailing son in two of city's top hospitals.
Rout, a resident of Gopinathpur village in the district, had master's degrees in Statistics and Business Administration. He was employed as a business executive in a private firm in Delhi, family members said.
Laxman's two elder brothers - Srinibash and Rama Chandra are farm labourers.
Age has taken its toll on their octogenarian father Kartik Rout's health. Laxman's mother, Milli (70), is paralytic and and immobile. Their only daughter Rangalata (40) is deranged. Katrik sits stoically in his dilapidated mud-walled house, tears rolling down his face.
"I pray to God that no one should meet such misfortune. Laxman was our youngest child. He was loved and adored. He shouldn't have done this. They should have thought of us before taking the extreme step," Kartik says.
"We toiled in the fields to give him education. Their death has broken us, the loss is irreparable. Laxman always reciprocated what we did for him. In fact, the day they committed suicide, the postman came to deliver a money order they sent us," 47-year-old Srinibash said.
Sarpanch of Balia Gram Panchayat - Bhabani Shankar Bhoi said, "Our heart goes out to them. People here are extending support to the family though government agencies were found wanting to come to their aid."
Officials from the district administration on Monday offered their condolences and handed over a cheque of Rs 30,000, he said.
"We have been told that Rs 3 lakh have been sanctioned for the bereaved family from CM's relief fund. But it is too late. The aid should have come instantly keeping in view the magnitude of misfortune that has befallen the family," Bhoi said.
