Row after UP govt orders removal of cloth covering bodies at ghats

PRAYAGRAJ MAYOR SAYS RECENT STORM BLEW AWAY SHROUDS, CALLS IT ‘CLEANLINESS DRIVE’ AT GHATS

PRAYAGRAJ: A cleanliness drive by the administration near the cremation ghats where hundreds of bodies were buried recently has given rise to allegations by locals of a clean-up done to contain bad press.

But officials have rubbished these claims and called it a routine exercise to keep the ghats clean.

Multiple videos and photographs have emerged that purportedly show municipal workers pulling off yellow shrouds from unidentified graves at Shringverpur and other ghats in Prayagraj.

Photos and videos of these shallow graves on the sand banks of Ganga and Yamuna rivers, and of dogs feeding on the bodies, had gone viral on social media, and made international headlines.

Many of these bodies were suspected to be of people who had died of Covid, and whose family members didn’t have the money to cremate them.

At Shringverpur, locals claimed, government officials had been inspecting the ghat for the last few days.

“On Monday, dozens of labourers were engaged to remove the shrouds from the graves along with the bamboo stumps used for separation. These were collected and burnt at another spot,” said a local, preferring anonymity. A similar exercise was carried out at Phaphamau Ghat too.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday tweeted a cleaning video from Prayagraj.

“No treatment was received when they were living. Many even did not receive the honour of proper last rites. They did not even find a place in government data. Now, even Ramnami (sacred shroud) are being snatched from the graves. What cleaning drive is this? This is disrespect — of the dead, of the religion, of humanity,” she said.

However, Prayagraj mayor Abhilasha Gupta said: “The civic body is carrying out a cleanliness drive at all cremation ghats... shrouds were already blown away during a storm which occurred a few days ago.”