Shradanjali vehicle under repair; poors struggling to shift dead bodies

Haveri: The government of Karnataka has implemented many schemes to help the poor, but some of these schemes have not been effective due to technical reasons or negligence of the authorities. One such scheme is the Shraddanjali Vahan, which was introduced in 2016 to provide free transportation for the bodies of poor patients who died at the Haveri District Hospital.

The vehicle was initially used to transport the bodies of patients from the hospital to their native villages, but it has been standing idle for three years due to a lack of drivers and other problems. This has left poor patients' families having to pay thousands of rupees to transport the bodies of their loved ones.

District Health Officer Dr. Raghavendra Swamy said that the government had given a tribute vehicle to help the poor in various districts, including Haveri. He said that an ambulance vehicle that had come to the district health department from Belgaum was converted into a tribute vehicle.

"Till May 2019, the tribute vehicle was useful to the poor and orphans. But it has been standing still for three years. The tribute vehicle has been stopped in most of the state," Dr. Swamy said.

He added that if the government gives them a new vehicle, they will start operating the tribute vehicle again. "When a meeting was held in this regard, we proposed to the above officials. We have written a letter to the government," Dr. Swamy said. The poor patients' families are demanding that the government immediately arrange for a tribute vehicle. They say that they are struggling to pay the high cost of transporting the bodies of their loved ones.