Cadavers on sale at Osmania mortuary

If one thinks that unclaimed dead bodies coming to the Osmania General Hospital mortuary are creamted, then think again. In fact, some unauthorised people are allegedly selling dead bodies.When this reporter visited the mortuary, he found Ravi Naik and Govind, clad-in khaki and impersonating as hospital staff selling unknown and unclaimed bodies at different prices. “Most people coming from private medical colleges ask for fresh and young bodies. We can provide whichever body they want,” Ravi Naik said. The duo even said that presently 70 bodies are available in the mortuary. “We will check and tell you whether fresh dead bodies are available or not,” they said.According to Naik, the bodies of young people are more in demand. They are usually sold for at least Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000 each. Again, there are even different rate slabs for dead bodies. They charge Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000 for a dead body between 15-20 years of age, Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 for bodies of those who died in accidents and Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000 for bodies of those who died of natural causes. The duo are willing to permit the customer into the mortuary to check the condition of bodies before purchase. When asked how they could carry on such an illegal business, they replied: “It is an open secret, sir. All officials are aware of it. They do not look into the issue as they are too busy with their regular work.”  For instance, the body of a 35-year-old female who died of natural causes was sent to the mortuary by Falaknuma Police on June 27, 2010 and the autopsy conducted on June 28. However, the body was allegedly sold out to a private medical college even as records showed the body was handed over to Siasat for the final rites. In another case, a 25-year unidentified male body from Saroornagar police station was shifted to the mortuary on March 18, 2010.  However, a few hours later the body had vanished from the place. Reportedly, around 15 dead bodies come to the Osmania mortuary every day. Of them, at least two to five are unknown or unidentified. Since there is no check on how many dead bodies remain unclaimed, the illegal business of selling dead bodies is thriving. When Express approached R Surya Murthy, who is in-charge of the Osmania mortuary, he said he had no idea of missing bodies. Dr Narayana Reddy, head of department, forensic, Osmania Hospital said they keep a list of dead bodies coming to the mortuary. “As per my knowledge, there is no illegal activity like selling dead bodies taking place. We are taking care to preserve and protect dead bodies and will take stern action if anybody is found guilty,” he added. Dr Vasantha Prasad, superintendent, OGH said he was unaware about the business of selling dead bodies since the mortuary did not come under Osmania Hospital administration.K Rajeswar Rao, founder of Satya Harischandra Foundation which works to keep track of unclaimed bodies said, that around 500 unclaimed or unidentified dead bodies were sold from the Osmania mortuary in the past two years.  

By Mouli Mareedu
moulimareedu@gmail.com

City rounds up runaway students

Despite being the capital of the state, Hyderabad’s effort to attain RTE objectives has been beset by a lack of coordination between the education department and the Rajiv Vidya Mission (Sarva Siksha Abhiyan).  While authorities pat themselves on the back for identifying runaway students and sending them back to school, their failure to make private schools adhere to a uniform fee structure has been criticised. V N Mastanaiah, project director of Rajiv Vidya Mission (Sarva Siksha Abhiyan) says RTE achievements in Hyderabad have been considerable if not spectacular. As many as 12,000 out-of-school children have been accommodated in various schools in the district last year. ‘’It may not be a great achievement, but we are serious about RTE.’’ The mission aims at sending at least 15,000 out-of-school children back to their text-books this year. The district administration has set up 16 new schools and 11 special education centres dispensing bridge courses. ‘’We have set up teams of special officers to educate parents to send their kids to schools,’’ Mastanaiah added.  One of the factors militating against keeping poor children in school is migration. Migrant labourers tend not to stay in one place for a full academic year with the result that their children are pulled out of schools as and when they have to move out. To facilitate their readmission to other school s, the authorities plan to issue such children certificates of study.  While achieving a modicum of success on curbing dropout rate, the education authorities have proved powerless in reining in private school managements, who have ignored the deadline set for rationising their fee structure. Collector Natarajan Gulzar made a deadline to these school managements to fix single fee structure by June 28.

By Mouli Mareedu

moulimareedu@gmail.com

Students develop low-cost smoke detector

K Srilekha, a BTech student was busy writing a programme on her laptop while her teammates were helping to display their project at the Robocamp- 2011 on Saturday, which was held at the Indian Institute of Information Technology campus.The six-member team finally succeeded in making the ‘smoke detector’, which helps in early detection of fire in a house, especially in a kitchen. “Being a student of electronics and electrical engineering, I have always thought of innovating things that will be helpful for people, mainly women. Many women die due to lack of awareness over use of domestic gas in kitchens.After going through gas leakage incidents published in newspapers and TV channels, I decided to do something to save women's lives,” said Srilekha, a student of G Narayanamma Institute of Technology and Sciences, Shaikpet.The six students, from different places formed a team and built the smoke detector within 48 hours. They also demonstrated the project successfully in presence of robotic experts.The team led by mentor Rahul Peddi comprised S Sravya, Pallavi M from SRM University, Chennai, B Sneha of Sastra University, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, B Vivek Kiran, a class IX student from Kendriya Vidyalaya, Gachibowli and Pritika Bahad from Devi Ahilya University in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.B Vivek Kiran, one of the team members, said Rlydo Labs is manufacturing the same smoke detector which costs around Rs 1000. “We want to design the same system but at much affordable prices. The system requires- two pairs of sensors, one infra-red and other a photo sensor, one L29 3D IC to control motors and one micro-processor.The machine will help in early detection of fire in a house,” he added.Meanwhile, a six-day Robocamp concluded on Saturday, with around 900 students from over 100 colleges around the country participating in the event.The workshop is aimed at encouraging potential of students by providing a platform to not only compete but also learn to apply their skills.

By Mouli Mareedu

moulimareedu@gmail.com