Row as workers moving body refuse to place it on pyre
CHANDIGARH: It’s meant to be a place of serenity, where souls leave for their last journey, but tempers rose high at the Sector 25 cremation ground on Sunday as a team deputed by the Red Cross Society to transport the body of a Covid-19 patient refused to place it on the pyre at the LPG facility.
Workers at the crematorium lodged a protest with Red Cross, saying the team members, all in protective suits, did not help them carry the body.
The family members of the deceased did not attend the cremation.
In a video made by Hindustan Times, workers at the crematorium were seen arguing with the Red Cross team members, asking them to carry the body to the funeral pyre and not leave it on the floor of the facility.
“The body was kept on the floor for half-an-hour as there was no one to carry it because only two persons at the cremation ground have protective gear. It’s the duty of the team sent by the Red Cross to carry the body to the pyre, but they didn’t do it,” a worker at the cremation ground said.
Because of the incident another family wanting to cremate a loved one at the LPG furnace was asked to use the traditional wood pyre as the waiting period would have been long, the worker said.
According to protocols related to cremation of remains of Covid-19 patients, the body, sealed at the hospital, has to be kept on the pyre by teams transporting it.
Downplaying the incident, however, municipal corporation commissioner KK Yadav said, “There was a misunderstanding between the two parties. We have instructed Red Cross officials and employees at the cremation ground to be more cordial with each other.”
There was no reason to fear infection while transporting bodies of Covid-19 patients as these were sealed carefully at hospitals, he added.
It takes about two to three hours to cremate a body at the LPG facility and the next one is brought only after the place has been cleaned thoroughly after cremation.