AVIK CHAKRAVARTY

Fifteen days into her marriage, Mala Tanti sits outside her small quarters in the 13 No. labour line of Gelaphukari Tea Estate, imagining the life she thought lay ahead. On the morning of December 8, her husband, Agar Tanti, left home before sunrise, telling her he would return the next day.

“He told me he would come back soon,” she said, tears welling. “I never imagined that would be the last time I saw him walk out of our door.”

Agar was among 22 workers from the estate who travelled to Arunachal Pradesh for temporary construction work. Four days later, word reached the labour line that their vehicle had plunged into a gorge on the treacherous Hayuliang–Chaglagam road in Anjaw district. Nineteen workers are feared dead.

Even as grief tightens its grip on the communit

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