SAVE BIHARI AND BRING THEM TO HELP MAKE BIHAR TO VIHAR

Letter of least hope to sister from Libya - Note recounts the ordeal of the civil engineer stuck in the African country

AAROHI KESHAV

Patna, Feb. 25: The uprising in Libya has not only shifted the tectonic plates in the political world. It has passed on the Tsunami waves in small towns and cities, too. A letter sent to his sister from a man from the North African country speaks about the ordeals the Indians underwent everyday till the Indian government dived in to their rescue. Family of Kumar Sameer, 28, a civil engineer from Patna stuck in Libya, burst into tears after receiving a mail from him on Tuesday. The letter read: “Hi babu, Libya ka haalat bahut kharab hai. News nahi dekh rahi ho yaha pe yudh shuru ho gaya hai. Bahut bara yudh. Bus hum log zinda India wapas aa jain, yahi bahut hai. Company ke sabhi log chinta me hain aur site pe bas do din ka khaana hai. Do din me wo bhi khatam ho jayega. Humlog bahut bari musibat me hain. Sab log bas bhagwaan ko yaad kar rahe hai. Company do ya teen dino mein sab ko India bhejne ka intazaam keregi. Bas bhagwaan ko prarthana karo ki hum zinda India aa jain. Zyada chinta mat karo hum log paanch din se musibat mein hain, lekin humne aaj ye baat bata diye taaki kuch ho jane se tum logon ko achanak khabar milne se koi jhatka na lage. Babu puja karo ki bhaiya wapas aa jai ok. (The situation in Libya has turned worse. A war has started but I wish we could return home safely. The company is worried because we have only two days’ food left with us. That too will finish in a few days. We are in a big mess. We all are praying for our well-being. The company officials say they are trying their level best to take us back to India. Pray that we all return alive. We are in trouble for the past five days but I am informing you today because I want my family to get prepared for the worst so that if something happens to me, it should not come as a shock to the family. Pray that your brother returns home alive). Sameer’s mother, Uma Shrivastava, with tears in her eyes, said: “We were all excited because my son was supposed to return to India permanently on February 20. He had decided to settle in India, but when he called me up on February 19 he said the condition in Libya was not good and his construction company in India has not sent tickets to him.” Uma said Sameer chose to go to Libya in 2009 so that he could improve the economic condition of the family and arrange dowry for his three sisters. “He was offered a salary of 100 Dinar, which he has been sending regularly to his family. But for the past eight months (since July 2010) the company has not paid his salary.” Sameer joined Delhi-based DS Constructions in October 2009. Within a month he was sent to Libya for two years. Uma said he had resigned from the company in November 2010 but the company lingered on to his resignation, saying that some paper work was pending. “The company did not even send him the tickets. When the family got in touch with the company officials in India, they were told the firm was trying its level best to bring their 10,000 employees home from Libya.” She added: “We are spending sleepless nights and no food has been cooked in the house. We are just praying for my son’s safe return.” Sameer’s last message, which his father received at 12.30pm yesterday, read: “We are all stuck here (Libya). It’s blood and bombing everywhere. Please speak to the media so that the government takes a serious step to take us to India as soon as possible.” Vivek Tiwari, an employee with DS Constructions in Delhi, said: “All our employees are safe and we are in constant touch with the government officials so that we can get them back safely.” Sameer’s father, Arun Kumar Shrivastava, said: “When I am calling up the company officials they are saying that all is well there. But my son says that the situation is getting worse everyday. We are living on hope.”