A middle-aged man, who died at his rented house at Jalalpur locality of BiharтАЩs Nalanda district on May 13, was taken to the burial ground in a pushcart as the municipalityтАЩs ambulance failed to turn up on Friday.
The victimтАЩs maternal uncle Ramavtar Prasad said his nephew Manoj Kumar alias Guddu complained of uneasiness and was admitted to the Sadar hospital in Biharsharif on May 11. Two days later, he was discharged and brought home, where he eventually died a few hours later. Earlier in the day before his discharge from the hospital, Manoj KumarтАЩs sample was collected to check for Covid-19 infection. The test results had not arrived by the time of his passing.
Given the possibility that the deceased could be Covid infected, an ambulance was called to take him to the burial ground but it didnтАЩt turn up even after 18 hours of his death, said Prasad.
Later, the victimтАЩs kin contacted local ward councillor Sushil Kumar alias Mitthu, who allegedly demanded тВ╣22,000 for cremating the body. The family said they agreed to pay him тВ╣16,500, following which, two men wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) kits arrived with a garbage pushcart and carried the body to the burial ground. A video of the body being carried in the municipality garbage cart went viral on social media.
Following the incident, a committee of local residents requested Nalanda district magistrate (DM) Yogendra Prasad for a probe alleging misconduct by the ward councillor. They wanted to know why a municipal vehicle was not provided for carrying the body and why a municipal committee, formed to conduct the last rites of unclaimed bodies, did not intervene in the situation.
Biharsharif municipal commissioner Anshul Agarwal said, тАЬWe are investigating why a push cart was used to carry the body.тАЭ
Some healthcare workers claimed a shortage of ambulances was the reason for the emergency vehicleтАЩs non-availability, while the civil hospital authorities said ambulances were used only either to bring patients to hospital or send bodies to crematoriums from hospitals.
However, Nalanda civil surgeon Dr Sunil Kumar seemed to disagree with the shortage of ambulance theory. тАЬWe have more than 200 vehicles to take bodies to the crematorium. A proper investigation will be done into the matter and action will be taken against those who are involved in the incident,тАЭ said Kumar.
Several incidents of bodies being carried on bicycles or pushcarts have been reported from rural areas of the state recently.
