As the dead bodies were brought into Bahanaga High School, Balasore district, which served as a transit point, after one of India’s most devastating train accidents, there was one reassuring voice among the anguished cries of relatives — Mamata Pradhan. Ayurvedic practitioner Pradhan (59) was soothing frayed tempers, enraged outbursts and the inconsolable cries of grieving women, who had lost their loved ones in the catastrophe that claimed the lives of 275 people.
On June 4, she was also enabling the administration to relocate the dead bodies to the North Orissa Chamber of Commerce & Industry (NOCCI) campus in Balasore, where the remains would be handed over to their families. She had hurried to the scene of the tragedy to offer assistance, unbound by any government mandate. Since 1999, Ms. Pradhan has dedicated herself to humanitarian endeavours, offering primary treatment to victims and counselling relatives wherever major disasters have struck in India and abroad.
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