DHARWAD: Tanaji Bole (52) has been working at the Dharwad Civil Hospital for the last 30 years. But never in his career has he worked the way he did in the last week.He had to attend to 19 bodies in a span of seven days and didn’t get to go home. Though his senior officers asked him to rest, he refused, saying “work comes first.”
He slept in a small space near the mortuary and would get up to attend to bodies even in the middle of the night.Tanaji started his career in the mortuary when he was 20. According to him, there are very people who opt for this profession. Currently, he earns RS 20,000 a month. “No one wants to do this job. But someone has do it. Govindappa, who worked 30 years ago in this mortuary, trained me. Now, by looking at a corpse, I can tell the cause of death. On an average, I attend to about 20 bodies a month. But this week alone, because of the building collapse, I attended to 19 bodies,” Tanaji said.
It is also common among morticians to consume alcohol, which is believed to help them survive the foul smell, but Tanaji abstains.“I am happy with my job and I never complain. My children tell me to quit the job as they have also started earning now. But it will be difficult for the hospital to find a replacement, as many do not come forward to do the job that I am doing,” he added.
Rtd prof lends helping hand to victims
DHARWAD: A retired professor from Dharwad has extended a helping hand to a couple who survived the building tragedy. According to Mangala Bhat, the professor, she donated rs 10,000 to the couple. Mangala said she rushed to the hospital after hearing about the tragedy. There, she found out the condition of Dileep Kokare-Sangeeta Kokare. “Most of the injured and deceased hail from poor families. We have to take care of such families,“ she said.