Under attack over a tribal man forced to walk 10 km with his wife's body in Odisha's Kalahandi district, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today launched the 'Mahaprayan' scheme, announced six months ago, for taking a body from the hospital to the deceased's house.
Mahaprayan scheme was launched keeping in view the success of Harischandra Yojana.
Under Harischandra Yojana, poor people get financial assistance for cremation, while Mahaprayan scheme would facilitate transportation of bodies from hospital to the village of the deceased, Patnaik said while launching the scheme at Mahanga in Cuttack district.
There has been a state-wide outcry over non-implementation of the scheme, which was announced in February this year.
The government came under severe attack after a tribal man had to walk around 10 km carrying his wife's body on his shoulder from a government hospital in the backward district of Kalahandi, as he was unable to get a vehicle to take the body to his village.
The scheme to facilitate transportation of bodies from government hospitals to the place of the deceased person's residence will be monitored by General Administration (GA) and Health and Family Welfare departments, an official said.
"You are requested to take immediate step for procurement of vehicles of Dead Body Carriers and its branding out of the funds of the CMRF available with you, and in case of any shortfall thereon GA department (CMRF) may be requested for placement of necessary funds," secretaries of GA and Health departments had told all District Collectors in February.
The DCs were told six months ago that action taken in the matter be intimated to the headquarters concerned at the earliest. Also, on the same day, they were provided with the standard operating procedure and guidelines for proper implementation of Mahaprayan scheme.
As per the scheme, 40 dead body carriers (vehicles) were to be procured for 30 district headquarters hospitals, two each for three state run medical college hospitals, one each for Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar, IGH, Rourkela, Sishu Bhavan in Cuttack and Cancer Hospital in Cuttack.
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