BENGALURU: There was national outrage when a man in Odisha, Dana Majhi, carried his wife Amangdei’s body on his shoulders for the lack of a hearse van at the Kalahandi district hospital. The incident prompted the Odisha government to launch the ‘Mahaprayan’ scheme that will station 30 hearse vans in district hospitals across that state.
Meanwhile, the situation is no different in Karnataka.
The ‘Shradhanjali Vaahana’ that was supposed to transfer the dead from district hospitals to their residence have been talked about since March last year, but still hasn’t seen the light of day.
Under the service, 30 vehicles were supposed to be stationed in each district hospital across the state and transport the deceased. The government had planned to convert old ambulances into hearse vans, though the budget for the same hasn’t been sanctioned yet.
Currently, only Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) runs hearse vans in BBMP limits. While 11 hearse vans are stationed at Town Hall, nine more are stationed in Ulsoor. The ones at Town Hall cater to residents in the city and those in Ulsoor cater to the east zone, especially the cantonment area.
In the financial year 2015-16, these 20 vans transported 8,701 bodies from hospitals to homes, and homes to cremation grounds. They charge `15 per hour. The BBMP is required to deposit the money against each trip, in the form of challans, with the government.
‘Unofficially functioning’
Chitradurga district surgeon Dr K Jagadeesh told Express that the vehicle is ready at their district hospital and is being used unofficially in case of emergencies.
“The Shradhanjali service started on June 24 this year. Though it hasn’t been officially rolled out by the government, to help the poor, we have already helped transport some deceased to their respective houses. Earlier, people would rely on private operators,” he said.
Davanagere district surgeon Dr Neelambike H D said that though an old ambulance has been modified into a hearse van, there is no one to operate it. “The Health Department has to call for tenders and, until we get manpower, we cannot provide the ‘Shradhanjali’ service. People book private vans at the moment,” she said.
Geetha Bali, Deputy Director, Health and Family Welfare Department, said, “I have moved the file. Principal Secretary Shalini Rajneesh is yet to see it. GVK EMRI, which runs the 108 ambulance service, will most likely be given responsibility to run the hearse vans. They will have to manage with the budget already allocated to them. They should first agree for an MoU.
“But I think half of the district hospitals in the state are already running the hearse vans on their own with the assistance of NGOs. Davanagere and Kolar district hospitals are running them on their own.”
Status in other states
Neighbouring Tamil Nadu not only provides free government hearse vans that are 133 in number (2015 figures), these vehicles are not bound by district boundary restrictions. Anumber of NGOs also support the running of these hearse vans. The state’s hearse vans take the deceased up to 300 km outside Chennai and from there on, take the deceased by train. At the station, another hearse van transports the body to the residence.
Telangana and Andhra Pradesh governments do not provide hearse vans at all, even in their state capital Hyderabad.