Corona: Bad condition of cremation crews, long wait for cremation

Posted on 14th Apr 2021 by rohit kumar

The second wave of Covid-19 in India is seen repeating the story of the Spanish flu that came in the year 1918.

 

In April-May 1918, the first wave of Spanish flu came, which spread in many countries of Europe. But slowly the flu was reduced, the matter was about to end, but it was like 'silence before the storm'.

 

In August 1918, a new Spanish flu mutant arrived and it proved so dangerous that no one had even imagined it. In Europe, it spread like a forest fire. This was the matter of the year 1918. Now let's come to the present and talk about India.

 

The second wave of Corona in India has become so dangerous that on average more than one and a half lakh cases are coming up every day. The death toll has exceeded 1000 per day. The patients are waiting for their treatment in the hospital and the family members of the deceased have to wait a long time for more cremation.

 

In such a situation, the BBC tried to understand how the situation was by talking to the employees working in the crematoriums of the country's most corona-infected state and the family members waiting hours for cremation.

 

'Performing 50 to 60 cremations a day

"It's been a quarter past ten in the afternoon and 22 bodies have been burnt so far, 50 to 60 bodies have to be burnt every day." If you take time to understand food, ma'am, if someone's body took time to burn and if found time, then they can eat it in the middle. There are six freezes, but if people come more then where will they find a place in the freeze, people stand outside with the dead bodies. "

 

Varun Janagam, who works in a government mortuary in Pune, speaks on the phone very often, like how much you want to tell in a short time. Then you say - Madam, there is some work, we call you free.

 

Varun gives a glimpse of all the cremation workers of the country, who are burning the dead bodies of those killed every day, every minute from the corona.

 

In Maharashtra, on Tuesday, 60,212 new cases of corona have been reported and 281 people have died.

 

Corona is spreading rapidly in the states of Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat, UP, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka and 80% of the total corona cases are coming from these states, of which Maharashtra is also the worst affected state. Now many restrictions have been imposed till May 1.

 

Varun says that his shift lasts for eight hours, but despite this, the work is so much that he has to work overtime. However, he is among those employees who have a PPE kit available to do their work.

 

Employees burning corona bodies without wearing PPE kits

But Dineshbhai and Dhirubhai, who work at the authorized crematorium for the bodies of Covid 19 in Rajkot, Gujarat, are burning people dying of infection without any PPE kits or gloves.

 

He told BBC Gujarati colleague Bipin Tankariya that before Covid, there used to be 12 bodies on an average in a day, but now 25 bodies come.

 

Dineshbhai and Dhirubhai burn the bodies of those who died from the corona, but they have not been given any kind of PPE kit, sometimes the hospital people who accompany the ambulance give them gloves, otherwise they have no such facility. , Which, under the rules, is required to be worn at the time of burning dead bodies.

 

The cremation of those infected with Covid-19 is working 24 hours these days.

 

People waiting for their dead bodies for 12 hours

The workers at the crematorium are not only distressed and desperate but also those who have lost their loved ones in the epidemic, the wait and sorrows are endless, these people first go to hospitals to treat their loved ones and then death In the event of this, they have to wait a long time for the dead body.

 

Hospitals are also handing over the dead bodies to the crematorium.

 

The BBC talked to one such family. Hemant Jadav, from Morbi, located near Rajkot in Gujarat, told BBC Gujarati that he had to wait more than 12 hours for the body of his relative.

 

At five o'clock in the morning on Monday, he came to the Civil Hospital in Rajkot, and by the time he was talking to the BBC at seven in the evening, he could not find the body of his brother.

 

Hemant's brother was infected with the Coronavirus and was admitted to Rajkot Civil Hospital from April 1. Hemant said, "There was a talk on the phone, then my brother's health is improving, it seemed to us that he would come home now, but after that, he got a call from the hospital that he had passed away." '

 

According to government statistics, in the last 24 hours, 6690 new corona cases have been reported in Gujarat and 67 people have died. There are a total of 33,000 active cases in the state.

 

Ahmedabad, Surat, and Rajkot in particular are the worst affected cities. People standing in long queues in the crematoriums of Surat are waiting for the last journey of their loved ones, people are being given tokens and waiting for long hours.

 

People dying from corona in UP and the system would fail

 

BBC Hindi aide Sameeratmaj Mishra has informed from Lucknow that a large number of corona cases are coming up in the second wave of corona in UP.

 

State Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has also become corona infected.

 

Especially the coronavirus infection in UP capital Lucknow, where people have been wreaked havoc, there has also been a lack of space and facilities for the last rites of those who died of the infection. Apart from the two ghats of Lucknow, people in many other cities have to stand in line for the cremation of their deceased relatives.

 

The Alam of Lucknow's Baikunth Dham crematorium is that the wood for the cremation is decreasing and staff are not being found to burn the dead bodies at the ghats. Devesh Singh, who went to cremate one of his relatives on Tuesday, told that those people had to cremate themselves by arranging everything.

 

Arrangements have been made at the Baikunth Dham and Gualala Ghat under the Covid Protocol for the cremation of dead people from the corona infection in Lucknow, but the bodies of ordinary deaths are also being cremated at these ghats. In such a situation, these people have to wait hours for the last rites.

 

Ambulances and vehicles outside the Baikunth Dham may have a line and people are waiting for hours, but the Chief Engineer of the Municipal Corporation, Electro-Mechanical Ram Nagina Tripathi denies this.

 

He says, "The funeral of an electric crematorium usually takes one to one and a half hours. It takes 45 minutes in the machine and the same amount of time is spent in sanitization and preparation. At present, there are two electric crematoriums at Baikuntham and one at Gualala Ghat. Apart from this, eight-eight additional wooden sites have been started to burn the infected bodies. ”

 

Shaktilal Trivedi, who returned to the funeral of his family two days ago, says that despite taking the token, his number came after about six hours and it took ten hours before the funeral was completed.

 

An employee working in the electric crematorium in Lucknow, on the condition of anonymity, said that whatever the figures are, but the bodies of those who died of corona infection at both the ghats of Lucknow are coming far more than that.

 

He claimed that more than 100 such bodies were cremated on Monday.

 

However, according to the official figures recorded in the Crematorium, 77 people who died from Corona were cremated in Lucknow on Monday, of which 40 were cremated at Baikunth Dham and 37 at Gualala Ghat.

 

At the same time, the statistics of Monday of the UP government said that 72 people died due to infection on this day and 13,685 new corona cases were reported.