Odisha: Man forced to carry father's body on shoulders

BHUBANESWAR: Even as the infamous incident of Dana Majhi carrying the corpse of his wife on his shoulders in Odisha’s Kalahandi, due to his inability to afford conveyance, is yet to fade away, a similar heart-wrenching incident has come to the fore in Rajkanika block of Kendrapara district in the state.

Reports on Thursday said Sarat Barik of Kothasahi village under Rajkanika block had to carry his father Rabi Narayan Barik’s body on his shoulders due to the unavailability of a hearse or any other mode of transport at the community health centre (CHC), where the latter was admitted. The incident happened on Wednesday

Sarat’s father was on Tuesday admitted to a local CHC due to jaundice. However, he died while undergoing treatment. As Sarat didn’t have a single penny to arrange a transport to carry his father’s body back to the village, he requested the CHC authorities to help him.

As there was no hearse facility, the hospital authorities expressed their inability to help. With no other options left, Sarat carried his father’s body on his shoulders for about one km and was later helped by his uncle.

En route, a person helped Sarat by allowing the body to be carried on his bike to the village.  Although the body of the deceased was kept on the verandah of the hospital for more than two hours, the health officer-in-charge of the CHC, however, said he was unaware of the incident “I was at a meeting when the incident took place. There is no facility here for carrying corpses,” said Dr Ajit Das, the health officer.