No end to woes of NE people in Delhi
Source: Hueiyen News Service / Newmai News Network

Dimapur, April 17 2013: The plight of North East people in Delhi continues to remain unenviable as many unfortunate incidents and stories go unreported.

Many employees from the north east region were even debarred from getting their monthly salaries and the latest incident being that of the one in Saket, south Delhi.

"It was only over two weeks ago, when North East Helpline intervened to ensure a desperate NE girl got her salary.

Yet another NE girl, who was allegedly beaten up by her Thai manager (who is a business partner of Deepak Mittal, owner of the Gold Leaf Spa) last month, didn't get justice as no action has been taken up by Delhi Police so far.

The Thai national got scot-free and she had silently escaped to Thailand soon after that incident.

The unsavoury tales of North East people in the National capital, however, continues.

Like many others, DNG Kovalou, after his graduation started working as a BPO executive at Gurgaon in 2004.He was doing quite well and looks promising in building a bright future.

However, his dream was cut short on that fateful morning of September 15, 2012 while he was returning home after a night shift at Office Cab 'Tavera Car' (HR-55-MT-9998) with his colleagues, when a speeding Toyota Innova Car (DL-8CX-1110) hit them at Sanjay T-Point, Mahipalpur in south Delhi at around 4.30 am.

The 31-year-old Kovalou was injured critically on his head and legs while his four colleagues also sustained injuries.

All of them were brought to AIIMS Trauma Centre, New Delhi where they got treatment.

However, Kovalou was admitted in this hospital till December 2, 2012 .

Family members of the hapless victim narrated the whole story of this unfortunate incident to the North East Helpline general secretary Dr.Alana Golmei yesterday.

"The injuries have caused 100 percent permanent disability of Kovalou and since then he has been lying on the bed in a vegetative state.

He is now merely surviving on Jejunostomy Feeding, Tracheotomy Breathing Pipe, Caspofungin and Imipenem injections," a relative of Kovalou told NE Helpline.

As the youngest son and beloved child in the family, his parents had sent Kovalou to Delhi for higher education by investing huge sum of money with great expectation that one day he would look after his aged-mother and also support his five sisters and one brother.

"Till date more than 15 lakhs of rupees have been spent on Kovalou's treatment and he requires at least two dedicated attendants round the clock.

Over seven months now, family has exhausted all their money on his treatment.

The family didn't have alternative source of income and they are distressed.

Kovalou's employer neither has hospitalization nor accident insurance policies, which are some of the basic welfare facility extended by most employers today.

"When Kovalou's family approached his employer M/s Onkar Info Tech, Gurgaon for help, they did not respond while two of Kovalou's friends, Ramesh Joshi and Ashok Kumar, who were also injured in the same accident, have already got their medical reimbursement and pending salaries," said a relative of Kovalou.

When Kovalou's sister gave a written request for releasing the pending salary for the month of September 2012 and other dues, the company redirected the letter stating that "he had left the company.

The truth is when Kovalou met the accident while returning from the night-shift he had neither left nor resigned from his job.

"Despite the daily expenses amounting to around Rs 25,000 (twenty five thousand), the distressed family has hired a lawyer to claim for compensation and fought the case in the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal.

Another shocking conduct of the employer was that others who were injured along with Kovalou were advised to approach the lawyer hired by Kovalou's family claiming the lawyer had been hired by him.

The family of Kovalou is today praying for a miracle and awaiting justice from the Court.

North East Helpline has appealed to the Labour Minister of Haryana, Government of Haryana for intervention in releasing the salary and other permissible payments for DNG Kovalou from M/s Onkar Info Tech, Gurgaon.

The Helpline also appealed to Delhi Police to book the driver and owner of the car which had caused the accident and rendered the life of a North East boy paralyzed condition, thus leaving his family in a painful situation.

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