Odisha is in news again and certainly not for the right reasons. It seems that the State government did not learn its lesson after the Dana Majhi incident. The family of a tribal woman had to carry her dead body on a trolley-rickshaw from the district hospital to her village on Saturday.
The incident has strong resonances with the case of Dana Majhi who had to carry his wife’s dead body on his shoulders and walk about 12 kilometers to reach home from the Kalahandi hospital.
Pana Tirika, the 65-year old Tribal woman in question, succumbed to an ailment involving severe stomach ache before she could be taken to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack. However, there was no vehicle available at the District hospital of Jajpur where she breathed her last.
Also, due to Vishwakarma Puja on Saturday, there was no ambulance available either. The Jajpur District Hospital’s Medical Officer was unavailable for comment, reported The Indian Express.
Taking advantage of the critical situation, some even tried to extort money from the family to carry the dead body to her village, just 4 km away. But with no plausible alternative in sight, the woman’s son, Gunu Tirika loaded the body on a trolley rickshaw and cycled his way to the village.
This situation arose despite the state government launching a free hearse van service Mahapranaya.
(With inputs from The Indian Express.)
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