Telangana: Drivers refuse long trips in faulty vehicles

Hyderabad: Three of the vehicles bought by the state government to take bodies home developed technical problems and stopped midway. Two vehicles stopped at Shamshabad village and one in the forest area of Warangal.

At Shamshabad, smoke started coming from the engine, and the driver and family members had to be rushed out of the vehicle.  “I had to call in another vehicle to help the family reach the destination,” said the driver.

Another driver complained of a sudden breakdown of the vehicle on the highway.  Both these incidents took place 50 km away from the city, so private transport was easy to arrange.

In the case of the breakdown at Warangal, locals came in and helped get a mechanic. After the word about this incident spread among drivers, they are scared to take families from Hyderabad to villages which are 250 km or more away.

Mr Veera Chary, who filed a complaint in the health department, said, “On November 20, the first breakdown was three days after the new vehicles were launched. What is the make of these vehicles? Are old vehicles being provided to the government? I have filed a RTI with the health departm-ent after these three incidents but am yet to get a reply.”

A health official said that till November 25, 70 bodies had been transported in the vehicles. A senior health official said, “We have 50 vehicles and a technical problem in two to three vehicles will be solved.”

Family waits 11 hrs for van
None of the vehicles designated by the government to transport bodies was available on Sunday at the Gandhi Hospital when a family wanted to take a body home.

This came to light when Shyam Raju tried to take home the body of his 23-year-old pregnant wife Swarnam who died of complications at 8.30 am on Sunday. Swarna’s delivery had been scheduled for Dece-mber 12, and the family had come to the hospital on December 10 from Siddipet.

“My family is here and we were told that everything was normal. On Sunday morning, she developed breathing problems and collapsed. Senior doctors tried for more than an hour to revive her but it was of no help. We were told that according to the government scheme the vehicle would be arranged for us to take the body home. We have waited for more than 10 hours and there is no vehicle,” he said. A nurse said the hospital had been allotted 10 vehicles, all of which had gone out. The family got a vehicle at 7.30 pm.