Jajpur: The body of an elderly man in Odisha’s Jajpur district remained on the rooftop of his house for nearly 18 hours as rising floodwaters prevented his family from bringing it down for last rites, relatives claimed Friday.
The incident was reported from Chintasahi under Bari panchayat, where several families remained surrounded by floodwaters for the past six days following flooding in Brahmani and Kharasrota rivers.
The deceased, identified as 61-year-old Hrushikesh Mallik, died around 4.30 pm Wednesday.
His family kept the body on the rooftop as the ground floor of the house was submerged under nearly four feet of water, relatives said.
When the water level receded Thursday, the family brought the body down.
The family alleged that despite informing the local administration and seeking assistance to take the body out for the last rites, they did not receive any help.
“We repeatedly called the Bari Block Development Officer (BDO) for administrative assistance for the last rites of my uncle, but the calls were not answered. We then approached a power boat operator engaged by the local administration for rescue operations in the area for assistance, who said he could not go to the village without instructions from higher authorities,” said Anil Mallik, nephew of the deceased.
A local social worker later arranged a hearse to transport the body for cremation.
Villagers then carried the body through waist-deep water for around one kilometre as the motorable road from the deceased’s house remained submerged.
The family could hardly find dry land to conduct the cremation and eventually took the body to Jajpur district headquarters for the last rites, they said.
Bari BDO Minati Jagdev, however, refuted the allegation and said she was unaware of the incident.
“No one has informed me about the incident. I learned about it from a local scribe Friday afternoon. The nodal officer of Bari panchayat has been asked to provide financial assistance under Harischandra Yojana and other facilities to the family of the deceased for the last rites,” Jagdev said.
The incident has triggered anger among residents, who alleged that hundreds of families in Chintasahi had been forced to stay on rooftops without adequate access to cooked food for the past six days.
Villagers said the local administration had provided only dry food and no cooked meals were being distributed.
