PMC extends financial aid for cremation of Covid +ve bodies in Sangam city

PRAYAGRAJ : The Prayagraj Municipal Corporation (PMC) is giving financial aid of up to Rs 4,000 to the kin of those local residents, who have died due to Covid-19, to facilitate their cremation, said an official of the civic body.

The aid is being given in accordance with an order issued by the state government in which it has also made clear that the help would be extended to the members of minority communities for burials as well, reads a recent missive issued by principal secretary, urban development Manoj Kumar Singh. The facility was currently available only at Phaphamau Ghat where a PMC team has been stationed to oversee the cremations of Covid positive bodies.

To get this aid, kin of the deceased need to present documents from a pathology lab or a hospital to support their claim that the deceased was Covid positive, said PMC zonal officer of Phaphamau area Neeraj Singh. “All relevant details of the bodies being cremated with the help of the financial aid being extended by PMC are being duly entered in the records,” he added.

The details of burials at various graveyards, however, have not been compiled so far. Singh said between May 13 and 18 (4pm on Tuesday), 85 Covid positive bodies had been cremated with the help of the PMC aid.

“This includes 22 bodies cremated each on May 13 and 14 followed by 13 on May 15, 9 on May 16, 12 on May 17 and 7 on May 18 (till 4pm),” he added. He added that while the financial aid was provided by the PMC and its team was at the site to oversee the cremations, family members were performing the rituals. Police, PNN teams guard ghats Senior police officials on Tuesday visited Phaphamau ghat and asked against burial of bodies in the sand on the banks of Ganga River.

They said the government had announced financial assistance of Rs 4000 for cremation of bodies and that the funds would be provided by the Prayagraj Nagar Nigam (PNN). Officials also instructed against burial of bodies at ghats in rural areas.

The PNN has constituted teams to maintain vigil at the ghats and asked people against burying bodies in the sand, officials said.

The municipal body officials fear rains or rising river water levels might wash the sands away, exposing dead bodies, raising fears of infections.

Over the last couple of days, police and PNN teams have stopped many people from burying bodies at Phaphamau Ghat, Arail, Jhunsi, Shringverpur and other cremation ghats across the city and in rural areas.

SSP Sarvshrestha Tripathi said police teams had been deployed at the ghats to stop burial of bodies. He said police personnel were warning people of the threats of infections which the buried bodies may pose when river water levels rise. Water police in motorboats is patrolling the river banks to stop immersion of bodies in water, he added