Dharmagarh, Sep 25: The insensitivity of residents of a remote village in Kalahandi district has appalled many as four sisters today carried their mother’s body to the cremation ground and performed the last rights after neighbours did not turn up. The deceased Kanak Satapathy from Dokaripada village under Golamunda block in the district died late last night due to illness. The grief-stricken family waited for the neighbours to come forward to help them perform the last rites of the 75-year-old widowed woman. When no one came to their help, the four daughters were forced to perform the role of pallbearers and took the body on an inverted cot to the cremation ground. The bereaved girls also lit the funeral pyre, defying the age-old tradition. Of the four girls, three girls are widowed and the other one is deserted by her husband. The incident has made a mockery of the Harischandra Yojana, a scheme to provide assistance to poor and destitute to perform last rites. It’s stated that the villagers chose to turn a blind eye as the family’s financial fragility.
