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Mahad bridge collapse: 'My army man will come back', says daughter of missing man

Balakrishna, a retired army man who was later working at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), was on his way to Nanar in Rajapur district to gift a phone to his mother and plant five mango trees on his village land.

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Avinash Varak shows a photo of his father Balakrishna at their home in Kandivli
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As Archana and her brother Avinash sit on the staircase, waiting for a news about their father, Archana whispered, "My army man will come back". Balakrishna who boarded the Rajapur-Borivali State Transport (ST) bus was among the missing people in the Mahad bridge collapse tragedy. The bus was supposed to arrive at Nancy Colony Depot at 4am on August 3, but arrived a bad news instead.

Balakrishna, a retired army man who was later working at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), was on his way to Nanar in Rajapur district to gift a phone to his mother and plant five mango trees on his village land. "While he lost his own phone on Sunday morning, he bought a phone worth five thousand for aaji (grand mother)," said Avinash, 17.

Avinash, who is an engineering student and lives in a hostel at Dahanu road had gone to drop his father to the bus-stop on Sunday. "Baba (father) told me to pay attention to my studies and not bunk college. He also told me to take care of maa (mother) and both my sisters Archana and Arushi," said Avinash.

Being positive that her father would come back home, Archana said, "Being in the army, he is very fit and he knows swimming too. I am sure he will come back to us." Narrating the last time she spoke to her father, Archana said, "At about 10 pm, he had informed us upon reaching Chiplun that he was done with his dinner. My mother even woke up at 4 in the morning awaiting my dad's arrival."

Talking about her father, Archana further added, "He always motivated me to pursue my dream of becoming a nutritionist, and today, I am what I am all because of him."

Blaming the ST buses in her grief, Archana said, "I never trusted ST buses. I would always ask him to board a train instead, but he would prefer to travel by ST bus. It always concerned me and this incident only proves that my concerns were not wrong."

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