Firoz Alam's sister and her son were killed in Kathmandu on Saturday, when a massive earthquake hit Nepal and parts of India.
25-year-old Firoz Alam waited for over two hours at a relief camp in Bihar's Raxaul town on the border with Nepal, for a two-minute meeting with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday.
Alam's sister and her son were killed in Kathmandu on Saturday, when a massive earthquake hit Nepal and parts of India. Even in these tragic circumstances, his family was cheated by an ambulance driver who had charged a staggering 60,000 to bring the bodies back to Bihar.
Alam's brother-in-law, who has worked in Kathmandu for over a decade as an electrician, hired the ambulance the same day, so that his wife and son could be buried at their native village. He paid an advance of Rs 20,000.
But the ambulance driver allegedly drove 10 km out of Kathmandu and then threw Alam's brother-in-law out on the road, with the two bodies. Alam lost touch with him on Sunday.
"I am very worried. I don't know what to do except appeal to the chief minister for help," said Alam.
Alam did get his two minutes with the Chief Minister, who asked to area district magistrate to provide all help.
The Bihar government has sent 31 buses to Kathmandu and Pokhara to get people out. But rather than wait for the government's arrangements, many have opted to try and return on their own, risking being fleeced by private taxi and bus operators. Foreign tourists are hiring vehicles and arriving in Raxaul in hordes.
At the Raxaul railway station, a group of 25 people, all from Bihar's Hajipur district but settled in Nepal for over two decades, say they paid 1,500 rupees each for a private bus that drove them from Kathmandu on Tuesday morning. What they paid is thrice the usual fare of Rs 500 for the 300 km distance.
Over 5,000 people have been killed in Nepal's worst earthquake in 80 years. In Bihar, over 60 people have been killed.