Sarthak Kanjilal &Vikramaditya
Port Blair, June 19: In several states, the state government provides ‘free Hearse (Mortuary Van) services’ for the poor families, who lack money to transport the bodies of their relatives.
Situation in Andaman and Nicobar Islands is totally different.Currently, there is hardly any government-provided hearse to transport the dead bodies to North and Middle Andaman from Port Blair.
Earlier Hearses (Mortuary Vans)of Port Blair Municipal Councils used to transport dead-bodies to North and Middle Andaman but for unknown reasons the service was withdrawn nearly one years back.
Presently two different private parties are providing Hearses(Mortuary Vans) to residents of North and Middle Andaman to transport dead-bodies to North and Middle Andaman but recently during one such case both the private Hearses were also not available to transport a dead-body to Rangat and hence the family members of the deceased went through tremendous mental agony.
According to reports, one private hearse was under repair, while the other hearse was already transporting another dead body.
The family members tried all possible ways but failed to hire and private Hearse and finally, they called Mr. MT Mustafa, President, Island Protection Forum for help, who then with the help of a friend, managed to arrange a Private Van, cleaned it and later transported the dead body to Rangat.
Talking to Andaman Sheekha, Mr. Mustafa requested the administration to support the North and Middle Andaman residents with Hearses.
“I would appreciate Mr. Shibu Varghese, owner of Force Motors in Andaman and Mr. Hassan Kutty, who provide their vehicles for transporting dead bodies by charging only a token amount. What if both these private vehicles are not available? Where would a poor villager of North and Middle Andaman go? The Administration must look into this matter” Mr. Mustafa added.
