New Delhi, Sept. 8 -- They sent their children to Delhi with dreams of a better education and a brighter future that their small towns could not offer. But after a boys' hostel collapsed in Satya Niketan, the families of the victims are returning home with a bitter message for anyone still dreaming the same dream: Don't send your kids to Delhi.
The families of the students who died in the collapse had struggled to put them through college in the national capital. Sunday's collapse of the decades-old building housing a boys' paying guest accommodation has not only claimed lives and shattered families but also left them questioning whether the city was worth the risk.
For Bhupendra Jaj, who decided to donate his son Ankit's one eye after the other got damaged in the tragic incident, Delhi has been a profound disappointment.
"We have become completely disappointed. I just want to say to everyone, don't send your kids to Delhi," Bhupendra said.
The family of five had endured considerable hardship to provide Ankit with a good education, Jaj said. He recalled that shortly after the building collapsed, one of his son's friends called the family around 3 pm to ask about him and warned them not to let him return to the area if he was still in Dewas - their hometown in Madhya Pradesh.
"We told him that he had already left for Delhi and had reached there in the morning. We had a lot of trouble just finding his body. Nobody was ready to tell us anything. They showed only two photographs to us when there were more bodies," Jaj said.
The family has demanded a thorough investigation into the collapse.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.