Balasore: In a shocking incident, the body of an elderly person was found stuffed in a polythene bag and loaded on a trolley rickshaw near the local railway station Friday afternoon.
The Government Railway Police (GRP) dishonoured the body and was trying to send it to the district headquarters hospital at a time when the state government has laid stress on effective implementation of Mahaprayan Yojana.
According to reports, an unknown elderly man had fallen off a passenger train at a place between Khantapada and Nilagiri railway stations in the wee hours of Friday.
The GRP had stuffed the body in a four-ft long polythene bag and transported it by a trolley to the Balasore railway station. From there, they were trying to send the body by the trolley to the district headquarters hospital for post-mortem, but by then some media persons had reached the spot and taken pictures of the body. Thereafter, the GRP called an ambulance and shifted the body to the DHH for post-mortem.
Such an act dishonouring the body has come to the fore even though the state government has directed the police administration and the health department to ensure honour such incidents take place in the wake of the infamous Dana Majhi episode.
DGP KB Singh had also issued directives to the police that cremation of unclaimed bodies can be done with special funds.
However, an official of GRP, Pratap Chandra Behera explained that the body was brought by a train but it was placed on a trolley instead of putting it on the ground. The body was sent by an ambulance to the hospital, he added.
By coincidence, the collector Friday held a review meeting on effective implementation of Mahaprayana Yojana when such an incident happened, making mockery of the scheme. PNN
