Amidst widespread criticism even beyond Odisha, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday reacted to the incidence of a man carrying the dead body of his wife on his shoulder for around 10 km in Kalahandi district as no ambulance was provided by the district administration and described it as “extremely distressing”.
“The incident is extremely distressing. The Government has ordered a thorough inquiry into the incident. Stringent action would be taken against those found guilty,” Patnaik told reporters on the sidelines of the Odisha Investors’ Meet in Bengaluru.
Asserting that efforts are being made to avoid a repeat of such incidents, Patnaik said his Government had now launched a free ambulance service to carry dead bodies.
Dana Majhi (42), accompanied by his 12-year-old daughter, had carried the body of his wife Amang Dei on his shoulders. Amang had died of TB at the Kalahandi District Headquarters Hospital at Bhawanipatna on Wednesday night.
After the intervention of a TV channel reporter, an ambulance of a social organisation shifted the body to the destination.
Meanwhile, taking suo motu cognisance of the case on the basis of media reports, the Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) on Friday sought detailed reports on the incidence from the Kalahandi District Collector and Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO).
They have been asked to conduct an inquiry into it and submit reports within two weeks.
On the other hand, in a damage control attempt, Collector Brundha D said that the DHH authorities and the concerned security agency were responsible for the
incidence. She informed that a reinvestigation had been ordered into the case.
The statement of the Collector came after facing criticism from different quarters after CDMO Braja Kishore Brahma on the basis of an initial inquiry gave a clean chit to the hospital staffs
saying Majhi left the hospital with his wife’s body without informing anyone.
Both Dana Majhi and her daughter were summoned to the district headquarters, where district administration officials allegedly tried to persuade the father-daughter duo to remain quiet.
Meanwhile, coming down heavily on the Government the Congress on Friday gheraoed the CDMO’s office and demanded an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh for the kin of the deceased.
The activists led by senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Bhakta Charan Das gheraoed the CDMO office demanding an unconditional apology from the Chief Minister alleging that the social security schemes of the State Government have failed to bring any changes in the standard of living of people in rural areas.
Activists of the BJP and the Samajwadi Party also staged demonstration in different parts of the State, including Bhubaneswar, over the Kalahandi incidence.