Chhattisgarh man's body not cremated since January ​4, kin demand job

DRUG: The kin of a Bhilai Steel Plant employee who died on January 4 have refused to cremate the body till the PSU gives a legal heir a job on compassionate grounds, officials said on Saturday.

Kartik Ram (57), part of the Chhattisgarh-based steel plant's safety engineering department, was hospitalised on November 26 last year and died in January 4, his wife Asan Bai said.

"He was shifted to a Raipur hospital on December 11, then brought back to Bhilai and discharged on December 26. He was hospitalised soon after and died some days later. The doctors said he died of kidney failure and the rules of Bhilai Steel Plant say a legal heir should be given a job if this is the cause of death," she said.

"We will not cremate the body till Bhilai Steel Plant authorities give one of us a job. My husband's body continues to be in the mortuary of the hospital where he died," she added.

However, Bhilai Steel Plant officials said there is no mention of kidney problems in Ram's medical report, adding that he was admitted in hospital on November 26 for fever and phlegm, and died of multiple organ failure.

Speaking on the issue, Durg Additional Collector Prakash Sarva said the family of Ram and the Bhilai Steel Plant management have had several rounds of negotiations but no solution has been found.

The body was deteriorating and district officials would conduct the last rites after giving a final notice to the family, Sarva informed.