Jhajjar woman tries to cope with loss

Ravinder Saini

Tribune News Service

Jhajjar, June 30

Santosh (30) was content leading a life as a housewife and focused on the upbringing of her two-month-old son and five-year old daughter, besides serving her mother-in-law.

She chalked out plans with her husband Deepak (34), who painted houses, for the future of their children.

But destiny had another plans for her. Deepak was killed in an accident at Chhara chungi here on February 27.

Since Santosh’s husband was the sole breadwinner of the family, she had no option but to step out of the house to make both ends meet. And it has been a life of struggle for her since that fateful day.

In spite of having no knowledge of computers, Santosh, a Class XII passout, had to take charge of the family’s computer shop. “I had never thought that I will land up in such a situation,” she says.

She has learnt to operate a photostat machine and is looking for someone who can teach her computers. “The income from the shop is nominal,” Santosh says.

Her parents and brothers help her monetarily at times, but she cannot depend solely on them as her parents are not financially sound.

Deepak was four among men who died in the accident while returning to Jhajjar from Delhi in a car that collided with cemented pipes lying along a road. The accident was a result of the absence of light on the road.

Locals say the absence of security measures at all bypasses and crossroads in the district is the reason behind accidents. As per record, 113 people have died, while 192 others injured in 120 mishaps in the district this year.

“Silani bypass, Dujana Chowk, Dhaud bypass, Guda bypass, Jakhoda T-point, Badli bypass and Balor bypass are the accident-prone points,” said Raghuvir Singh, a city resident.

Om Prakash, an ex-serviceman, says absence of streetlights, faulty engineering and lack of signboards at most of the bypasses are responsible for mishaps in Jhajjar.

Police spokesperson Chaman Lal says awareness programmes are being organised to make people aware of traffic rules. “Adequate number of police personnel has been deployed at every point to manage the traffic. Special steps have been taken to check drunken driving and issue challans to overloaded vehicles,” he adds.