Bhubaneswar/ TIA NEWS
In a shocking incident a tribal man, along with his 12-year-old daughter, Wednesday walked around 10 km carrying his wife’s body on his shoulder as he failed to get an ambulance to take her body from a government hospital to home in the Kalahandi district of Odisha.
Dana Majhi wife died of tuberculosis Tuesday night at the district headquarters hospital at Bhawanipatna. Manjhi said he pleaded for a vehicle, but was refused.
So he wrapped his 42-year-old wife Amang Dei’s body in a sheet, hoisted it on his shoulder and began to walk home. His daughter walked by his side, holding a bag with their meagre belongings, weeping.
“I told the hospital authorities that I am a poor man and cannot afford a vehicle. I kept requesting them but they said they could not help,” Mr Majhi said to a television crew that found him after he had walked about 10 km with the body.
The TV crew reportedly called up a senior officer and arranged an ambulance for the remaining journey to Mr Majhi’s village.
For those in such a situation, the state government launched the ‘Mahaparayana’ scheme in February, offering free transportation of bodies from government hospitals to the residences of the deceased.
Majhi, however, said despite his all-out efforts, he could not get any help from the hospital authorities.
Thus, he wrapped his wife’s body in a cloth and started walking to his village Melghara in T Rampur block which is about 60 km from Bhawanipatna.
Majhi’s daughter accompanied him till some local reporters spotted the duo. They called up the collector and arranged for an ambulance for the remaining 50 km of the journey.
“I told the hospital authorities that I am a poor man and cannot afford a vehicle. Despite repeated requests, they said they cannot offer any help,” Majhi told a local television channel.
Kalahandi collector Brunda D said, “As we got to know of the incident, we spoke to the CDMO and arranged for an ambulance.”
“I have issued instructions to the tehsildar to provide assistance under the Harishchandra Yojana to the family. I have also asked the BDO to provide assistance from Red Cross and CMRF,” the collector said.
As per the ‘Mahaparayana’ scheme, dead body carriers are supposed to be deployed at 37 government hospitals and a total of 40 vehicles were assigned for the job.