Jalpaiguri (West Bengal): In a heart-rending incident, the body of a woman was carried by her husband and son on their shoulders in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal as they could not afford an ambulance that charged Rs 3,000, which was three times the actual fare. A daily labourer Ramprasad Dewan, a resident of Kranti village in the Mal subdivision of Jalpaiguri, admitted his mother Lakshmirani Dewan to Jalpaiguri Super Specialty Hospital on Wednesday due to breathing problems and subsequently she died in the night while undergoing treatment. When the son went for an ambulance, he was asked to pay Rs 3,000. Unable to afford the money, Ramprasad resorted to pleading, but that didn't help either. He then, along with his father, had to carry her body on their shoulders.
Ankur Das, secretary of Green Jalpaiguri, a voluntary organisation, who witnessed the entire episode from a distance immediately called the organisation's ambulance to help them. "There was no government ambulance to take the body home. Even the private ambulance demanded huge money. Hence, the family of the deceased was forced to carry the body on their shoulders. We saw it and sent the body home in our ambulance," the secretary told ETV Bharat.