Bhubaneswar/Balasore, Aug. 26: Forty-eight hours after it took place, chief minister Naveen Patnaik today regretted that a resident of Kalahandi district had to carry the body of his wife for nearly 16km apparently due to bureaucratic apathy.

The state's human rights commission has issued notices to the officials of the administration.

In Bangalore, where the chief minister had gone to take part in the investors' conference and Biju Patnaik birth centenary celebrations, Naveen promised action against the officials found guilty in extending assistance to the 48-year-old Daana Majhi. "This is extremely distressing news. We have launched a free ambulance service to transport bodies to avoid recurrence of such incidents," Naveen said.

Following the chief minister's announcement, the Kalahandi district administration announced a fresh probe into the incident and asked the chief district medical officer (CDMO) to submit a report "within seven days". District collector D. Brunda announced that disciplinary action would be taken against all those found guilty.

Incidentally, the earlier probe made by the CDMO had given a clean chit to the hospital staff and had virtually blamed Majhi for leaving with the body even before his wife, Amanga Dei, 42, was officially declared dead. He had denied the allegation that Majhi had approached the hospital authorities for help.

The claim that he had not informed the authorities was disputed by local journalist Ajit Singh, who had come to the rescue of the Majhi and his 12-year-old daughter after the two had walked nearly 16km with the body. "I had called up the district collector and CDMO when I saw Daana struggling to carry the body. We then arranged for an ambulance to take the body to the village from there," Singh told The Telegraph.

The district administration today sent an official to Majhi's village and gave him Rs 5,000.

Pradesh Congress Committee president Prasad Harichandan said the party would send a fact-finding committee to the district headquarters. Samajwadi Party's Odisha unit, too, held a protest demonstration.

Inquiry order

The Balasore district administration today ordered an inquiry into the incident in which two Government Railway Police (GRP) constables carried the body of a 75-year-old woman by tying it to a bamboo pole on Wednesday. The woman had died after she was hit by a train near Soro. The cops had wrapped the body in cloth and plastic sheet and tied it to a bamboo pole to carry it from the Soro Community Health Centre to the Soro railway station.

Balarore district collector Pramod Das said: "I have sought a report on the incident from the GRP."

GRP police officer Prataprudra Mishra said: "I waited till 3pm. When no doctor or nurse reported on duty, I decided to bring the body to Balasore and conduct the autopsy."

"Since the hospital couldn't help ferry the body, I asked my subordinates to make the arrangements. The department gives us Rs 1,000 for disposal of a body and that is not enough. Private cars were not willing to carry the body for less than Rs 5,000. The distance between the health centre and the railway station is 1.5km. I had no option but to ask my men to carry the body."