CHIKKAMAGALURU: Without motorable roads, hospital and other basic facilities, tribals had to carry the body of a 19-year-old youth in a makeshift cloth stretcher to Konegodu village in Samse Gram Panchayat limits of Kalasa taluk in Chikkamagaluru district recently. The video of the body being carried in the cloth stretcher has gone viral on social media sites.
Recently, the deceased, Avinash, belonging to a Scheduled Caste community, seriously fell ill. His relatives from the hamlet, where eight tribal families live, carried him in the makeshift stretcher till a motorable stretch and then to a hospital in Kalasa town. During their journey, they had to cross a narrow footbridge, as there are no solid bridges too, carrying Avinash. At the hospital, the teenager did not respond to treatment and died.
Later, it was an arduous journey back again to these tribals. An ambulance carrying Avinash’s body reached till a point from where his relatives had to trek back again. The body was placed in a cloth stretcher and carried till their hamlet. They had to walk for 2 km through a narrow path before reaching their hamlet, where the last rites were conducted.
For villagers of Konegodu, the Samse-SK Megal road is the nearest motorable stretch, which is 2 km from their hamlet. In between, they have to cross small streams, which are in full flow during the rainy season. They have to make do with footbridges to cross these rivulets as there are no solid bridges connecting their village.