Corona Deals A Body Blow To Crematoriums

Queues for funerals get longer as Covid deaths rise in Delhi More facilities built, capacity scale-up starts at existing ones Land shortage for burials too, efforts mount to check spread

- Sushant Mehra

First they run from pillar to post for hospital beds. Then some see bodies being mishandled. But the agony of families of coronavirus victims doesn’t end there.

They now have to go through a long process before cremations can be completed. A reality check at crematoriums and burial grounds revealed that families have to now wait for at least six hours for performing last rites of Covid-19 patients.

Mail Today also found bodies stacked in ambulances waiting for their turns. One of the drivers said, “First we have to wait outside hospitals to get bodies and then a much longer wait at crematoriums. As deaths are rising and there are fewer ambulances available, three-four bodies are sent in one vehicle. Our job is to load and unload bodies.”

On Saturday, Delhi reported a record 2,134 infections, taking the total to 38,958. Fifty-seven deaths took the toll to 1,271.

Authorities are overburdened with streams of bodies. In some crematoriums such as the one in Punjabi Bagh, bodies are often diverted for want of adequate space. At Nigambodh Ghat, Delhi’s largest crematorium, authorities are adding 25 cremation platforms to the existing 48.

Acharya, who has been overseeing cremations at Nigambodh Ghat for the past 40 years, said, “The number of bodies we cremate has increased to 50 per day in the last one fortnight. We have never seen such a scenario. I and my team are tired now.