By Quaid Najmi

Mumbai, March 9 (IANS): Six weeks after a Palghar couple was forced to carry their minor dead son on a motorcycle for 40 km, the Maharashtra government on Wednesday made it compulsory for all civic hospitals in the state to permanently station a hearse on their premises.

Health Minister Rajesh Tope, replying to a question by Mumbai BJP MLA Ameet Satam, informed the Assembly that there is no provision for transporting bodies in ambulances, for which hearses are available with the local bodies.

In view of the tragic instance that was witnessed in Palghar on January 25, the state government has now directed all civic bodies in the state to acquire a hearse in case they don't have one.

Tope added that the matter has been discussed with Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and Urban Development Minister Eknath Shinde, and the hearse could be procured through the District Planning Committee or the local MLAs' fund.

The announcement came nearly six weeks after a young couple -- Yuvraj Pardhi and his wife -- were compelled to ride on their motorcycle with the body of their son, 6-year-old Ajay Pardhi, who died of pneumonia, to their village in Sadakwadi for the last rites.

They wrapped the body in a couple of cloth sheets, donned blankets themselves and rode braving the chill at midnight, as the government's sub-district medical facility, Cottage Hospital, Jawhar, did not have a hearse and three private ambulances refused to help.

As videos of the couple and their dead son on the highway went viral, the district authorities cracked the whip on the errant ambulance providers. The couple's plight was first highlighted by IANS on January 27.

Tope informed the House on Wednesday that the three contract drivers have been sacked while the government has ordered a probe by the Deputy Director of Health into the incident.

The minister added that while 1,000 ambulances in the state have been replaced, a fleet of new ambulances have been provided for the Mokhada Rural Hospital and PHC in the tribal district of Palghar.

At that time, the CMO of the 142-bed Cottage Hospital, Ramdas Marad, had admitted that they had no hearse, among other lapses, but stated that the hospital attempted to hire a private ambulance which demanded a huge sum of money that the Pardhi family could not afford.

The hospital also asked the Pardhi couple to wait till the next morning (January 26), but fearing an autopsy on their son - who died of natural causes - they refused and took off on their motorcycle.

They finally reached their dwelling in Sadakwadi in the wee hours of Wednesday when the nation woke up to celebrate the 73rd Republic Day, and the tribal hamlet mourned at the funeral of the boy.