Amidst all the ‘India rising’ slogans and plans, it looks like a bleak India for the heart of our economy, our very own villagers. In Odisha, a tribal man carried his wife’s dead body for more than 10 km along with his daughter without any assistance from the local villagers. Mr. Dana Majhi’s wife, Amang, passed away from tuberculosis in the town of Bhawanipatna in Odisha.
On Tuesday night, his wife died in the district hospital which was nearly 60 km away from his village. Mr. Majhi said that since he is poor, he could not afford a private vehicle to transport his wife’s body. He says he repeatedly asked the hospital authorities to provide him with an ambulance but they did not pay attention to his requests. When no one came to his rescue, he decided to carry his wife’s body over his own shoulder back to his village by foot.
It was after around 10 km that people on the way stopped him and an ambulance arrived to help him. The cremation took place on Wednesday evening.
In the district that his village is located, Kalahandi, the collector, Brunda arranged for the ambulance. She also mentioned that Rs. 2000 be given to him under a government scheme and Rs. 10,000 will also be given to him by Red Cross.
Personally, I feel what happened was extremely sad. When a family member is lost, grief is natural and to cope up with the death of a wife is enormously hard. Imagine carrying your wife’s dead body for 10 km with a crying daughter by your side? Doesn’t this have such immensely sad overtones?
What the hospital authorities in particular and the public administration departments of our country in general need to understand is that these basic necessities need to be implemented effectively. Starting a scheme or ‘yojana’ is very easy – but is it being implemented at the grass root level properly? – That is the real question.
