MALKANGIRI: Even as nationwide furore over a tribal man Dana Majhi walking 12 kilometers with his his wife's body on shoulder in Kalahandi is yet to die down, a man in Malkangiri was forced to carry the body of his minor daughter as the ambulance driver denied to take the corpse to his village on Friday.
Dinabandhu Khemudu and his wife of Puspalli village under Podaghata panchayat took their 7-year-old daughter Barsha Khemudu to Kudmulgumma Community Health Centre where the doctor referred her to Mathili hospital.
As Barsha's condition was serious, the doctors of Mathili hospital asked the parents to take her to Malkangiri district headquarters hospital. While Dinabandhu and his wife were taking the critically ill Barsha from Mathili to Malkangiri in an ambulance, she died at Pandripani.
When the ambulance driver knew that Barsha had died, he told the tribal couple to get down from the vehicle with the dead body.
Following fervent request of the couple, the ambulance driver dropped them at Nayakguda junction. Finding no other alternative, Dinabandhu carried Barsha's body on his shoulder and started walking to his village Puspalli which is nearly 15 km away.
After walking for nearly two kms, some villagers noticed the couple and informed Mathili CHC staff who helped them get an ambulance to their village.
CDMO Uday Shankar Mishra said an FIR has been lodged with Malkangiri police against the erring ambulance driver.
Meanwhile, Collector K Sudarshan Chakravarthy has directed the CDMO to investigate into the matter.