Ambulances should be available in all districts, Maneka Gandhi said. (File Photo)
Union minister Maneka Gandhi today said she was saddened by two incidents in Odisha where a man carried his wife's body on his shoulders and two policemen used a bamboo pole to carry a corpse due to alleged lack of ambulances and stressed the need for making ambulances available in all the districts.
"At many places, we have provided ambulances from our MPLAD scheme. They are used both for carrying cadavers and for transporting pregnant women at the time of delivery. These ambulances should be available in all districts," she said.
On Wednesday, in Odisha's Kalahandi, Dana Manjhi was forced to carry his wife's body on his shoulders for 10 km before an ambulance could be provided.
Kalahandi District Collector Brundha D has ordered an inquiry into the episode.
On Thursday, Salamani Behera, an 80-year-old widow reportedly died after she was run over by a goods train in Balasore.
Two police personnel, in order to put the body inside a sack, allegedly broke its limbs by climbing over the body and carried it all the way from hospital to Soro railway station on their shoulders by tying it to a bamboo pole.