Bihar: On Monday, several bodies, decomposed, bloated, and suspected to be of people who are the victims of COVID- 19, were found floating in the river Ganga in a Bihar district. Upon hearing the news, the officials in the Chausa block of Buxar, which borders Uttar Pradesh, rushed to the spot.
Chausa BDO Ashok Kumar told PTI over the phone, “We were alerted by the local chowkidar that many bodies have been spotted floating from upstream. We have so far recovered 15 of these. None of the deceased happens to be a resident of the district. Many Uttar Pradesh districts are situated right across the river and the bodies may have been dumped in the Ganges for reasons not known to us. We cannot confirm whether the deceased was indeed COVID-19 positive. The bodies have started decomposing. But we are taking all precautions while ensuring that these are disposed of in a decent manner”.
Aman Sameer, the District magistrate of Buxar said, “After finding dead bodies on the banks of river Ganges, senior officials of the district were rushed to the spot and they made an assessment of the situation. They have found that the bodies have reached the district with the flow of water in the river. Till now we have found 48 bodies and made all the arrangements for their respectful disposal.”
Many residents claimed that the district administration was “in denial over many such unfortunate incidents involving residents of Buxar”.They alleged that those manning cremation ghats were charging a fortune whenever people reached there with the body of one who died of the coronavirus.
Kalicharan Singh, a resident of Chausa block in the district said, “Even as the district administration has been claiming that these bodies have come from adjoining UP districts of Varanasi and Ghazipur with the flow of water in the river, still a few of the bodies were seen tied with bamboos, which indicate that people have come here and abandoned the bodies for fear COVID-19 infections.” He added, “Even the charges of cremation, which used to be between Rs. 5,000 and Rs. 6,000 in normal times have now gone up manifold, as they are now charging Rs. 16,000 to Rs. 20,000. This may also be the reason for people to abandon their dead bodies”.
Another resident said, “There is also a shortage of wood and other material required for cremation. Availability of these has taken a hit because of the lockdown. So many bereaved family members are impelled to immerse the bodies of their departed relatives in the river”.
Often family members of a COVID victim are not handed over the body by the administration which claims it would perform the last rites observing the protocol in place for the deadly virus, another local stated.
KK Upadhyay, the Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) said it is a matter of investigation to ascertain if these corpses come from Varanasi, Allahabad, or any other place. “We are alerting officials near ghat areas to make sure that it does not happen again,” he added.
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