BMC assigns vehicles to carry unclaimed bodies

Bhubaneswar: After a public outcry over unclaimed dead bodies being carried to the crematorium on trolley rickshaws, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has woken up to the disgrace and has decided to assign air conditioned vehicles for the purpose.

BMC Mayor Anant Narayan Jena, while informing about the decision of the civic body, said that two unclaimed bodies were carried in the newly assigned vehicles to the crematorium today.

“The municipality has its own vehicle, which will be used to carry the bodies from the Capital hospital to the Satya Nagar crematorium. Moreover, it will be ensured that the cremation is done in a proper manner. We will discuss with the government and will seek assistance for this arrangement. In the meantime, the civic body will carry out this program through the funds at its disposal,” said Jena.

Notably, the unsavory matter came to light last Sunday when a human corpse was seen being carried to the crematorium on the back of a trolley rickshaw.

According to sources, after post mortem, unidentified and unclaimed bodies were sent for disposal in this manner by the respective police stations on a regular basis.

The utterly shocking sight of human corpses being carried on trolley rickshaws was widely criticized by the citizens of Bhubaneswar, which only recently topped the Smart City charts.

“It is a very unsavory sight to see dead bodies being carried on public roads in this fashion and makes human life seem akin to animals. The administration should at least make a provision for a vehicle to carry the bodies,” said one of the witnesses of dead bodies being carried in such inhuman manner.