Unclaimed bodies: Odisha reaches out to Centre to decide on disposal method

Bhubaneswar: Odisha government has reached out to West Bengal and Bihar governments, the Centre and the Railways to collectively decide on the appropriate disposal method of 81 bodies lying unclaimed at AIIMS here. Till Friday, 68 DNA samples of those looking for the relatives have been collected to identify the bodies. Those will matched with that of the deceased using a software at Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory in Delhi.

Chief Secretary Pradeep Kumar Jena said the AIIMS has been asked to notify the administration at least 24 hours before the deadline when the bodies can’t be kept further. He said the government will consult all stakeholders to take a collective decision. The dead deserve a dignified farewell, said Jena. The bodies, if unclaimed, will be disposed of after exhausting all options of handing them over to their families, the Chief Secretary said. AIIMS-Bhubaneswar Additional Medical Superintendent Prabhas Ranjan Tripathy said these embalmed bodies can be kept at best for one more week. These would be cremated if there are no claimants. Cremation will be done in a scientific manner and with dignity, he said.