Odisha migrant worker carries dead wife’s body on shoulder for 33km

By Suryanarayan Panda

Koraput, Feb. 9: It’s a Dana Majhi rerun. A migrant worker hailing from Odisha’s Koraput district was reportedly forced to carry the body of his dead wife on his shoulders for over 33 km after the private hospital where she died allegedly failed to provide an ambulance service.

Denied an ambulance by the hospital authorities, the migrant worker couldn’t afford to hire a vehicle. With no option left, he decided to carry the body on his shoulders and walk home.

According to sources, Guru and his wife from a remote Sarada village under Pottangi block in Odisha’s Koraput worked as migrant workers in Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam.  A few days ago, Guru’s wife fell sick and she was admitted to a hospital at Sagarvalasa in Visakhapatnam. On Thursday, the woman breathed her last while undergoing treatment.

With no friends and relatives in Visakhapatnam, Guru decided to take the body to his village for the final rites. However, he was reportedly denied a hearse van by the hospital authorities.

With no money, Guru decided to carry wife’s body on his shoulders to his village in Odisha. He had covered 30 km when a few well-wishers spotted him and alerted the cops.

On being informed, Andhra Police showed humanity and rushed to his aid. Sub-Inspector Kiran Kumar of Vijayanagaram Rural police station arranged an ambulance for Guru to take his wife’s body to his village for the last rites.

The villagers appreciated the effort of AP police in organizing a hearse.

Dana Majhi, a tribal man hailing from Kalahandi district had on August 25, 2016 carried his wife’s body on his shoulders for 12 km after being denied a government mortuary van. That incident had created uproar in Odisha with the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress demanding resignation of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.