Doing yeoman service for the bereaved families

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 12

Kapurthala-based NRI Iqbal Singh Bhatti (67), who is running France-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) ‘Aurore Dawn’, has brought back the ashes of 10 Indians who had lost their lives in a span of nearly a year in France.

Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, Bhatti said these families did not have the resources to bring back the bodies of their loved ones who died natural deaths due to heart attack, cold weather or even cancer. He said the family of Yogesh Kumar of Delhi had received the ashes from him after he reached the Delhi airport. “Two families from Ludhiana met me at the Rakab Ganj gurdwara sarai in Delhi where I stayed put. The remaining seven families will meet me here today and take the remains of the deceased,” he said.

These families did not have the resources to bring back the bodies of their loved ones who died natural deaths due to heart attack, cold weather or even cancer. The family of Yogesh Kumar of Delhi received the ashes from me after I reached the Delhi airport. Two families from Ludhiana met me at the Rakab Ganj Gurdwara sarai in Delhi, where I stayed. The remaining seven families will meet me here and take the remains of the deceased. —Iqbal Singh Bhatti, Kapurthala-based NRI, who runs France-based NGO 'Aurore Dawn'

A native of Miani Bhagupurian village, Bhatti said so far he had taken care of the bodies of 257 deceased Indians since he started philanthropic work in 2003. “I come here every year. Last time I brought along the ashes of 11 deceased persons. Earlier, we used to help the families by sending bodies from there. But for the past few years, we have started taking permission from them to cremate the deceased with all due respect and later after a year’s gap bring back their remains from there,” he said.

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