CHENNAI : It took nearly three hours to make space for P. Aravindakshan's last journey back home to Kerala in the Chennai-Mangalore Express.

Recently, a 42-year-old's body waited while friends and a Malayalee association members tried to figure a way out of the railway decision to lease out luggage-brake vans to private parties. It was only after top railway officials intervened that the casual labourer's body was accommodated in the underguard's cabin and finally taken to his native place Shornur.

According to Malayalees, Telugus and other groups from the neighbouring States, who are living in the city, the leasing out of luggage-brake vans has turned out to be the end of a facility for a dignified and relatively cheaper last journey back home. M. Nanda Govind, president of the Confederation of Tamil Nadu Malayalee Associations, says that all along the practice has been to inform the authorities in the morning. "The brake van will be kept free by afternoon. The railway administration used to issue a few tickets in the emergency quota as well for those, who accompany the body. At the destination, the guard will personally oversee the job of handing over the body."

Both Mr. Nanda Govind and All India Telugu Federation president C. M. K. Reddy wonder how several families will be able to foot the bill of transporting bodies by road. "The railway charges anywhere between Rs. 300 and Rs. 600, depending on the distance. Compared to that, hearse charges will exceed Rs. 5,000 if the destination is beyond Nellore. It will cost more than Rs. 10,000 if the body has to be taken beyond Vijayawada," says Dr. Reddy. Community members say there should be a permanent solution. "It has been difficult in the past six months. Once in a while somebody obliges. But how long," asks Dr. Reddy, who says he has helped two families last month, paying up hearse charges.

Southern railway officials say that there is no other go but to comply with the ministerial order to lease out 12 tonnes worth space to private bidders, as it is a revenue-generating exercise. The railway is left with four tonnes of space in the brake van to carry the obligatory excess luggage and perishables. According to a top official, every time a request to carry a dead body comes, officials find themselves in a bind, as they cannot accommodate it in the space meant for luggage and perishables. Earlier, the Railway Board had turned down the Southern Railway's plea not to lease the luggage vans in mail and express trains to private contractors in the interest of small traders as well as people who want to transport the dead.

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