Dr. Elangovan, who was working in the general medicine department of a government hospital at Zella in the Al-Jufra State of Libya, was killed in a road accident
Dr. Elangovan, who was working in the general medicine department of a government hospital at Zella in the Al-Jufra State of Libya, was killed in a road accident
A Kozhikode native, whose husband died in a road accident in Libya three decades ago, is still awaiting the compensation due to the family from the government there.
Elam Elangovan, who hails from Chennai, was working in the general medicine department of a government hospital at Zella in the Al-Jufra State of Libya. On October 20, 1991, while he was on his way to another hospital 150 km away, the tyre of his car burst. The vehicle overturned, killing Dr. Elangovan, 42, and another doctor on the spot.
Sarada Elangovan, his wife, says her husband’s body was kept at the hospital for some days. It was later taken to Chennai, where the body was buried. She later settled in Kozhikode with her three daughters.
In a memorandum submitted to the External Affairs Minister, Ms. Elangovan’s youngest daughter Tripurasundari says her mother was in a state of shock after the incident. She took some time to collect documents to seek compensation from the Libyan government through the Indian Mission there. Ms. Tripurasundari claims that though they had forwarded all the required papers to the Indian Mission, nothing was forthcoming.
Ms. Elangovan approached the Kerala High Court in 2003. She alleged that neither the Indian Embassy nor the Union government appeared before the court despite notices being served on them. In October 2004, the court directed the authorities to take immediate steps to see that Ms. Elangaovan got the compensation in three months. Though the Ministry and the Embassy pursued the issue with the Libyan government, nothing happened. Ms. Elangovan again wrote to the Indian Mission in 2007, marking copies to the Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs and the Minister for External Affairs. The Indian Mission again took it up with the Libyan government, but to no avail. Letters to the External Affairs Minister and the Prime Minister in 2012 and 2015 did not receive any response.
Ms. Tripurasundari claims in the letter that she was just five years old when her father died. The family is entitled to a compensation equal to three years of salary or 10,000 Libyan dinars, whichever was less, under his contract of employment with the Libyan government. “Although no amount of money will compensate for the loss of my father, the receipt of compensation will go a long way to ameliorate our financial burden, that accrued as a consequence of living the last several years with no real financial source for our livelihood, my education, etc.”
