Dana Majhi's 42-year-old wife Amang Dei died of tuberculosis at the hospital in Kalahandi on Tuesday night. As he failed to get a vehicle to transport it from a government hospital in the backward district of Kalahandi where she died, he along with his 12-year-old daughter walked around 10 km carrying his wife's body on his shoulder. "I told the hospital authorities that I am a poor man and cannot afford a vehicle. I kept requesting them but they said they could not help," Mr Majhi said to a television crew that found him. Despite all his efforts, Dei’s husband Dana Manjhi could not get any help from the hospital authorities.

 

Thus, he wrapped his wife’s body in a cloth and started walking to his village Melghara in Rampur block, about 60 km from Bhawanipatna. For those in such a situation, the Naveen Patnaik government launched the 'Mahaparayana' scheme in February, offering free transportation of bodies from government hospitals to the residences of the deceased. Majhi, however, said despite his all-out efforts, he could not get any help from the hospital authorities.Under the scheme, 37 government hospitals were given vehicles to carry the dead. The TV crew reportedly called up a senior officer and arranged an ambulance for the remaining journey to Mr Majhi's village. Kalikesh Singh Deo, a Member of Parliament of the state's ruling Biju Janata Dal, tweeted, "I have already asked the local minister to verify this and take appropriate action."