Neither dead nor alive: 2 years after MP blast, victim’s kin still wait for his return

BHOPAL: Two years ago, a deafening blast tore through an illegally run firecracker factory in Bairagarh of Harda, killing 13 workers instantly and leaving over 200 injured. Compensation cheques were issued, last rites performed, and official files moved slowly, bogged down by bureaucratic inertia.

However, for the family of 30-year-old Kailash Khapre, time has stood still since February 6, 2024.Kailash is neither counted among the dead nor present among the living. Reported missing since the explosion, he became the unnumbered victim of the tragedy — the 14th worker whose absence condemned his family to a life lurching between hope and despair. For Kailash's elderly parents in Teeri village of Khargone district, grief has no closure.

For his three young children, now aged five, four and three, the growing-up is now fraught with uncertainty. And, for his wife, the interminable wait has now turned unbearable. She has returned to her parental home, leaving the children behind with their grandparents who are struggling to survive on a single acre of land. "Sometimes we think he will return, sometimes we fear he may never," 65-year-old Raju Khapre, Kailash's father, told TOI, his voice wavering between faith and fatigue.

"I have nine children, Kailash was my third. He went to Harda for work barely three months before the accident. We searched everywhere, hospitals, records, people — but found no trace of him," he recounted.Unlike the families of the 13 confirmed victims, who received government compensation cheques of Rs 21.5 lakh each, Kailash's family remains ineligible for any ex-gratia assistance. The law offers them no relief either, as a person can be declared dead either when his mortal remains are found or after seven years of continued disappearance. "I have a big family to feed and only an acre of land to live off," Raju said, adding, "Kailash left behind three small children — a daughter and two sons. They are too young to understand what they are faced with. We are managing to get by somehow, but it is very difficult. A little help from the administration will be of great use to his children." The contrast is stark. In the aftermath of the tragedy, the district administration moved swiftly — attaching properties of the accused, auctioning assets, and distributing around Rs 5.34 crore as compensation so far.

Officials assured that more relief will follow once the National Green Tribunal (NGT), where the matter is sub judice, pronounces its final order.However, for Kailash's family, legal procedures offer little comfort. His absence has placed them in a cruel limbo — without proof of death, there is no compensation; without compensation, survival itself is a daily struggle. "The tragedy did not end for us that day," Raju said, "It continues every morning when the children wake up asking about their (missing) father." Harda Collector Siddharth Jain acknowledged the family's predicament. "We will look into the norms and try to provide some financial assistance through the Red Cross as an interim relief. Further decisions will be taken in light of the NGT final order," the Collector told TOI.As the nation marks the second anniversary of one of Madhya Pradesh's deadliest industrial disasters, the story of Kailash Khapre serves as a haunting reminder that the aftermath of a tragedy isn't always recalled in terms of the lives lost and the compensation cheques to next-of-kin.