TV
In a bizarre incident from Pakatamunda village under Mahabirod police limits in Dhenkanal district, a family was forced on Monday to carry a deceased relative’s body for over two kilometres on a cot after the hearse vehicle transporting the body got stuck midway due to poor road conditions.
Also Read: No road, no bridge: Dead body carried on cot across river in Odisha’s Telkoi
The deceased Sidha Munda, a resident of the same village, was bitten by a venomous snake while sleeping. With no mobile network in the village, the family struggled to arrange help and finally managed to take him to Parjang community health centre (CHC). Unfortunately, doctors in the health facility declared him ‘dead’.
While returning to their village with the body in a hearse, the vehicle became immobile due to severely damaged roads. With no other option, the grieving family carried the body on a bamboo cot to their home. The incident has raised serious questions about infrastructure and road connectivity in rural Odisha.
No comments were received from the family or local administration in this regard.
Earlier in another incident, some residents from Badakhaman village under Telkoi block of Keonjhar district were forced to carry a deceased man’s body on a cot for more than five kilometres, crossing a river on foot due to a lack of a motorable road and a bridge.
Locals alleged that their demands for a motorable road and a bridge were never addressed and that they are left marooned every monsoon.
The deceased man, Chouban Dehury, was an elderly resident of Badakhaman and had been admitted to Telkoi health centre after his health condition deteriorated. He passed away on August 2 during treatment.
However, carrying the elderly man’s body to the village became an ordeal due to a lack of road connectivity and the seasonal swelling of the Samakoi River in the district, which cuts off access to the hamlet during the monsoon.
