Bahrain King gives Rs 9 lakh to Odisha man who carried dead wife on shoulder

Bhubaneswar: Dana Majhi, the tribal man who carried his wife's body for over 10 kilometres on his shoulders last month due to lack of an ambulance in Odisha, has received a cheque of of Rs 8.87 lakh from Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the King of Bahrain, who was moved by his plight.

Majhi was forced to walk for miles along with his 12-year-old daughter as he had failed to get a vehicle to transport it from a government hospital in the backward district of Kalahandi where she died. The incident had triggered widespread outrage and shock across the nation and even made it to international papers.

According to reports, the King of Bahrain sent the money for Majhi through a cheque which was received by the Bahrain Embassy in New Delhi. The King's kind gesture came just days after the Prime Minister of Bahrain had offered financial help to Majhi's family.

Majhi's wife Amang Dei had died of tuberculosis last month at the district headquarters hospital at Bhawanipatna.

The Naveen Patnaik government had launched the 'Mahaparayana' scheme in February, which offers free transportation of bodies from government hospitals to the residences of the deceased. But Majhi said that he failed to get any assistance despite his repeated efforts to get some help from the hospital authorities.

Left with no other option, he wrapped his wife's body in cloth and started walking to his village Melghara in Rampur block which is about 60 km from Bhawanipatna.

Majhi's daughter accompanied him till some local reporters spotted the duo. They called up the District Collector and arranged for an ambulance for the remaining 50 km of his journey.