A heart-wrenching video of a family transporting a dead body of a man on a bicycle amid rains has emerged from Kittur in Belagavi district of Karnataka on Sunday.
The family had to take the dead body on the bicycle due to fears that the man who died was coronavirus positive. After neighbors did not help the distraught family, a bicycle was arranged to transport the body to a crematorium in MK Hubballi village in Kittur taluk of Belagavi.
Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President DK Shivakumar criticised the Karnataka government asking why an ambulance was not arranged for the transportation of the body for the cremation.
"Relatives of a 70-yr-old dead person in Kittur, Belagavi had to carry the body for cremation on a bicycle in heavy rains. CM BSY, where is your government? Why was an ambulance not provided? This incompetent government lacks humanity and has been a total failure in handling the pandemic," DK Shivakumar said in a tweet.
Relatives of a 70-yr-old dead person in Kittur, Belagavi had to carry the body for cremation on a bicycle in heavy rains.
— DK Shivakumar (@DKShivakumar) August 17, 2020
CM @BSYBJP, where is your govt? Why was an ambulance not provided?
This incompetent Govt lacks humanity & has been a total failure in handling the pandemic. pic.twitter.com/PQfUe2oFXg
71 year-old Sadeppa Salagar suffered from fever for two days and the family was advised by the primary health care centre in the village to take him to the district hospital since he was showing symptoms of COVID-19. But before he could be taken for treatment, he died at 6 am on Sunday, Times of India reported.
While the family pleaded for an ambulance to transport the dead body, they allegedly did not receive a response from the local health department. This prompted family members to transport the dead body on a cycle.
The incident comes a month after a woman in Athani of Belagavi district was forced to carry the dead body of her husband on a pushcart after no help was forthcoming due to COVID-19 feats.