Walking from Pune for 6 days, Mahadev Pawar, a labourer, died halfway from his home in Parbhani

A 35-year-old farm labourer died of hunger and dehydration while walking from Pune to his village in Maharashtra's Parbhani district, over 360 km away, the police said on Thursday. His story is just another one among the thousands of the stories happening around the nation this very moment with lakhs of lives in peril of being ended on the road to their homes.

Mahadev Pawar's dead body was found on Monday at Dhanora in Beed district, 200 km from his village, said Police Sub-Inspector Rahul Lokhande of Ambhora police station. "The postmortem was done later and it was found that he died due to exhaustion due to excessive walking, hunger and dehydration around May 14," the official said.

Pawar, who worked as sugarcane cutter in cane fields, was native of Dhopte Pohandul (Tal- Manvat, Dist- Parbhani) village. He was visiting his parents at his sister's house in Pune when the lockdown was imposed and got stuck there. According to his sister Kaveri Jadhav, he became restless as lockdown continued and decided to walk home.

He left Pune on May 8. Pawar reached Ahmednagar on May 14. As he did not have a mobile phone, he contacted his family by using someone else's phone. Dhanora, where his body was found, is 30 to 35 km from Ahmednagar, his hometown.

"His death came to light when someone complained of a foul smell from a roadside shed," the police said. "Pawar's last rites were performed by officials of the Dhanora gram panchayat and police after consulting his family members," the police official said.

"My son who is seven years old keeps asking everyone when will his father return," said Chandrakala Pawar, Mahadev Pawar's wife. "He even calls up relatives on phone and asks the question. He is yet to understand the truth," she said.

Chandrakala and her husband were last together at Shirol where they were working as labourers. "We were away from home for around four to five months. We were about to return to our village. My husband told me that he will meet his parents in Pune and return. That was our last conversation," she said. "Our son's future is now my biggest concern," she added.

Kaveri, Pawar's sister, said she and her parents "begged" him not to undertake the journey on foot. "As the lockdown continued, he became very restless, saying he wanted to go home as he had not seen his son for six months," She said. "I told him I would pay for the fare, but he was adamant on going on foot with a group of migrants from Parbhani. I and my parents begged him not to go walking but in vain," She added.

"He called me from someone else's phone a few times. But not once he complained that he was unwell. When I asked about food, he said he got food packets on the way," Jadhav said. "I should not have allowed him to leave," she said.

Mahadev Pawar is survived by a son and a wife. He has neither agriculture nor any occupation. Mahadev Pawar was the only support of his family. Now that he is gone, the family is starving. You can also help this family by sending money to the account number given below

To help the Pawar family:

Bank details 

Bank Name & Branch : State Bank Of India, Sonpeth Dist- Parbhani. 

Ac Holder Name : Ranjana Darate (Chandrakala Pawar- Mother) 

Ac No. : 35082102779

IFSC Code : SBIN00020026