The family of a Bhilai Steel Plant employee who died on January 4 has refused to cremate the body till the public sector undertaking gives a legal heir a job on compassionate grounds, officials said on Sunday.
Kartik Ram (57) of the Chhattisgarh-based steel plant’s safety engineering department died in January 4, his wife Asan Bai said.
He was shifted to a Raipur hospital on December 11, brought back to Bhilai and discharged on December 26. He was hospitalized soon after and died days later.
The doctors said he died of kidney failure and the rules of the Bhilai plant say a legal heir should be given a job if this is the cause of death, the wife said.
"We will not cremate the body till Bhilai Steel Plant authorities give one of us a job. My husband's body is in the hospital mortuary," she added.
But plant officials said there is no mention of kidney problem in Ram’s medical report, adding he was admitted in hospital for fever and phlegm and died of multiple organ failure.
Durg Additional Collector Prakash Sarva said the family of Ram and the plant management have had several rounds of talks but found no solution.
The body was deteriorating and district officials would conduct the last rites after giving a final notice to the family, Sarva added.