General
In an unprecedented sight, villagers in Badakhman village under Telkoi block of Keonjhar district were forced to carry a deceased man’s body on a cot for nearly 5 kilometres, crossing a river on foot due to the absence of a motorable road and a bridge.
Reports in this regard surfaced on Saturday, with locals alleging that their demands for a motorable road were never addressed and that they are left marooned every monsoon.
General Dead Body Carried Across River On Cot
Sources reported that the deceased, Chouban Dehury, was an elderly resident of Badakhman and had been admitted to Telkoi Medical Centre after his health condition deteriorated. He passed away on Wednesday during treatment.
However, returning his body to the village became an ordeal due to a lack of road connectivity and the seasonal swelling of the Samakoi river, which cuts off access to the hamlet during monsoons.
Without any motor transport or a bridge in place, villagers resorted to manually carrying the body across water and slippery embankments.
Images and visuals captured during the ordeal show villagers wading through the river, holding the cot aloft, their path blocked by both the river and bureaucracy.
General A Recurring Crisis
Notably, this is not the first such instance from the area. Just two days earlier, beneficiaries of the Public Distribution System (PDS) from the same village were seen carrying bags of rice on their heads while crossing the same Samakoi river.
Just a day earlier, a similar episode unfolded in Kandhamal district. In the remote Dumeripada village under Mundigada panchayat of Tumudibandh block, a young girl carried her snake-bitten mother on her back for five kilometres through a forest trail to reach help.
The family had called for an 108 ambulance, but the vehicle could only reach Saramundi, which was eight kilometres from the village, due to non-existent roads.
From there, Rajani managed to secure a motorcycle ride for another three kilometres before finally reaching the ambulance point. Her mother was taken to Tumudibandh health facility and later shifted to Baliguda Sub-Divisional Hospital, but was declared dead upon arrival.