Pune: Mother covers 1,800 km on a two-wheeler to meet sick son in Jamshedpur, says couldn’t afford flight fare
Shikha Chaurasia
Pune, 29 July 2020: A 26-year-old woman Sonia Das from Bhatia Basti in Kadma, Jamshedpur had come to Pune after she lost her job in Mumbai, as a consequence of COVID-19 pandemic which left many unemployed. Das was living with her friend in the city. When her husband informed about their five-year-old son who had developed a fever, she decided to go and meet him.
Left with no options, Das along with her friend Sabia Bano decided to cover a distance of 1,800 km via two-wheeler from Pune via Mumbai to reach Jamshedpur to meet her sick son.
She started her tedious journey on Monday (July 20) morning after receiving the news of her sick son and reached Jamshedpur on Friday (July 24) evening. On their journey, they had stopped at ten petrol pumps for refilling their fuel tank and three dhabas to eat food and take rest. They crossed some of the most worst affected cities while on their journey. They said that they did not face any kind of safety or security issues on their way. Everything sailed smoothly.
As soon as the duo reached Jamshedpur, they were taken by the authorities for a COVID-19 test. Rapid antigen test results came negative, and they were allowed to leave with instruction to stay in home quarantine for 14 days. The authorities provided a dry ration for 30 days for the family.
Sonia said that she had repeatedly pleaded for help by tagging Maharashtra and Jharkhand government in her tweets but received no help or response from them. As she could not afford flight tickets and there were no trains from Pune to Tatanagar, she decided to venture on her journey on a two-wheeler as she was very worried about her son.
