Cremation of Gujarati family likely in Winnipeg as $70,000 raised
Darpan News Desk IANS, 31 Jan, 2022 12:26 PM
With their relatives in India deciding not to bring back their bodies, the four members of a Gujarati family who froze to death on January 19 while trying to enter the US illegally from Manitoba are likely to be cremated in Winnipeg.
However, no decision has been taken yet.
A gofundme has raised US$70,000 for the victim family.
The bodies of the four family members – who have been identified after autopsies as Jagdish Patel, 39, his wife Vaishaliben Patel, 37, daughter Vihangi Patel, 11, and son Dharmik Patel, 3 – are currently lying in a morgue in Winnipeg.
Jaswant Patel, a cousin of the deceased man in their native village Dingucha near Ahmedabad, said that the family wants their funerals to take place in Canada.
The Indian High Commission in Ottawa, which is in touch with the victims' family in Gujarat, will take the final decision on the matter.
As the Gujarati community of Winnipeg awaits a decision on the funerals, it held an online 'Shanti Path' (prayer meeting) for the victim family on Saturday.
"Over 60 people joined us. We prayed for the family. Our local MP and the Mayor were among those who conveyed their condolences," said organiser Bhadresh Bhatt of the Hindu Sabha of Manitoba.
Bhatt, who has been coordinating with the Indian High Commission since the tragedy came to light, said mission officials are in touch with the relatives in Gujarat of the victim family.
"Since the victim family has no relatives and friends in Winnipeg, the Indian High Commission will finally take a decision of the funerals – whether they will be held in Winnipeg," he said.
The police identified the victim as hakeem Satnam Singh who was attacked at his clinic on Thursday in the limits of Faqirabad police station. A police official said that unknown assailants, whose number could not be ascertained, opened fire on the victim and managed to escape from the scene, the Dawn news report said.
Chief Secretary H.K. Diwedi held an emergency meeting with the District Magistrates and Superintendent of Polices of West and East Burdwan, Bankura, Birbhum, Hooghly, and Howrah on Thursday evening and took stock of the situation. After that the state government decided to deploy the Army in certain areas. However, NDRF teams have been kept on standby.
According to sources, Amarinder Singh will convene a meeting of leaders close to him in a few days to consider the formation of his new party, which will include all the leaders of the anti-Sidhu faction.
The arrested persons have been identified as Abdul Khalid, Shriram Chaurasia, Zishan Ahmad, Vikas Kesarwani and Krishna Kumar. Inspector (Kareli) Anupam Sharma said the arrested persons had sold SIM cards to law-breakers at high prices after creating fake IDs.
The ex-CM of Punjab recalled that Rawat himself had publicly stated after meeting him that he was satisfied by his government's track record on the 2017 poll promises.
It is learnt that Channi in his first meeting with the Prime Minister after becoming chief minister of Punjab requested that the Centre take back its decision to postpone paddy procurement by 10 days. The Centre has postponed the procurement of paddy by 10 days due to rain in Punjab and Haryana. Earlier the procurement was supposed to start from October 1 but now it will start from October 11.
