Bodies of 4 Georgia restaurant victims brought to Punjab

The bodies of four of the 11 youths of Punjab who had died in the December 14 gas leak incident in a Georgia restaurant reached their respective places in the state on Wednesday morning.

The bodies of Jalandhar’s Ravinder Kala, Patiala’s Amarinder, Moga-based Gagandeep and Mansa-based Maninder Kaur had arrived at Amritsar's Guru Ramdass Ji International Airport on Monday, courtesy the Ministry of External Affairs.

The teams of Sarbat Da Bhala Charitable Trust had reached the airport on Tuesday to complete the formalities. Families of the victims had also arrived. The NGO had arranged ambulances to transport the bodies to their respective places.

The family of Jalandhar-based Ravinder Kala conducted his last rites at the Kot Ramdas cremation ground on Wednesday noon. Amarjot Singh, Jalandhar-based activist of the Charitable Trust, attended the cremation.

Kala had not seen his family for the past seven years. Father of two daughters and a son, he had left home to work in Dubai when his wife Kanchan was expecting their son. From there, Kala had moved to Georgia for better avenues. His son Deepak never met him and had seen him only during video calls, said Kala’s family.

The Trust members visited the bereaved family and assured them of all help. The family has sought a job for Kanchan. "We have offered her a job at a cloth stitching centre,” said Amarjot.

The Trust is also looking for ways to help Kanchan repair her partly damaged house.