PATNA: An ageing, ailing couple has been left grounded -- groaning and moaning, courtesy the Turkish Airlines (TA).
Septuagenarian Onkar Sharma and his sexagenarian wife Sadhna Sharma have been on life-saving drugs for several years. For the last few days, the Berlin-based non-resident Biharis could not take the medicines as the TA, which flew them to India, misplaced their luggage.
"I am 80% disabled; I possess a disability certificate issued from the government of Turkey. You can pretty well imagine my condition sans the drugs," Onkar Sharma told TOI at his cousin's home at Patna.
The couple boarded a TA flight at the Berlin airport on December 2 for Istanbul from where they boarded another TA flight for Delhi the same day. "On reaching Delhi's IGI (Indira Gandhi International) airport on December 3 morning, I was stunned to learn that all my five bags were missing," the retired manager of a starred Berlin hotel said.
Onkar Sharma has several health complications, including blood pressure and cardiac problems, and, as such, has been under constant medical supervision. Before his trip to home, his doctor prescribed certain medicines and advised him not to skip them while in India.
An asthma patient who too holds a disability certificate, Sadhna is also on drugs. "Sharmaji is alive because he has been popping pills with astronomic regularity. Without medicines, he now complains of uneasiness and I fear he may fall ill," she said and added the medicines are not available in India and their substitutes do not suit them.
Onkar Sharma said TA's IGI station manager Erbil Akgun had assured him that their bags would be delivered at the Patna airport on December 4. "We were given a few papers which we had to produce to claim the bags," he recalled.
The Sharmas have been continuously on the phone line since December 3 evening. "Now neither Akgun nor other TA employees are responding properly to my calls," Sharma said, desperately fighting back the tears.
On December 6, he said, the airlines informed the couple that the luggage had been sent to Patna by an Air India flight. "We went to the Patna airport and returned empty-handed as the luggage had not arrived," he said.
The Sharmas had planned to visit relatives in Lucknow and Delhi. "We were bringing several gift items for them. Today, we don't have even clothes for ourselves," Sadhna Sharma told TOI.
Efforts of this reporter to contact Akgun proved futile as none of the contact numbers of TA's Delhi office, available with the Sharmas, was working.
Septuagenarian Onkar Sharma and his sexagenarian wife Sadhna Sharma have been on life-saving drugs for several years. For the last few days, the Berlin-based non-resident Biharis could not take the medicines as the TA, which flew them to India, misplaced their luggage.
"I am 80% disabled; I possess a disability certificate issued from the government of Turkey. You can pretty well imagine my condition sans the drugs," Onkar Sharma told TOI at his cousin's home at Patna.
The couple boarded a TA flight at the Berlin airport on December 2 for Istanbul from where they boarded another TA flight for Delhi the same day. "On reaching Delhi's IGI (Indira Gandhi International) airport on December 3 morning, I was stunned to learn that all my five bags were missing," the retired manager of a starred Berlin hotel said.
Onkar Sharma has several health complications, including blood pressure and cardiac problems, and, as such, has been under constant medical supervision. Before his trip to home, his doctor prescribed certain medicines and advised him not to skip them while in India.
An asthma patient who too holds a disability certificate, Sadhna is also on drugs. "Sharmaji is alive because he has been popping pills with astronomic regularity. Without medicines, he now complains of uneasiness and I fear he may fall ill," she said and added the medicines are not available in India and their substitutes do not suit them.
Onkar Sharma said TA's IGI station manager Erbil Akgun had assured him that their bags would be delivered at the Patna airport on December 4. "We were given a few papers which we had to produce to claim the bags," he recalled.
The Sharmas have been continuously on the phone line since December 3 evening. "Now neither Akgun nor other TA employees are responding properly to my calls," Sharma said, desperately fighting back the tears.
On December 6, he said, the airlines informed the couple that the luggage had been sent to Patna by an Air India flight. "We went to the Patna airport and returned empty-handed as the luggage had not arrived," he said.
The Sharmas had planned to visit relatives in Lucknow and Delhi. "We were bringing several gift items for them. Today, we don't have even clothes for ourselves," Sadhna Sharma told TOI.
Efforts of this reporter to contact Akgun proved futile as none of the contact numbers of TA's Delhi office, available with the Sharmas, was working.
Alok K N Mishra, a journalist with Times of India Patna can be contacted at 9234629956.
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