A ‘grave situation’ along the banks of Ganga in Unnao, say villagers
: Hundreds of bodies were buried in shallow graves along the banks of the Ganga in Unnao district in the last three weeks, said local villagers on Wednesday, expressing fear that the rising tide could inundate the site and wash the corpses downstream.
Most of the dead included young and unmarried people, said people from Baksar village of Bighapur tehsil in Unnao There was no room for more burials, they added.
“As per the rituals in this part of the world, young and unmarried people are buried. But a large number of elderly were also buried due to the high cost of cremation at the traditional ghat in Baksar,” said locals.
“Scores of bodies were being buried every week. But the number has gone down in the past few days,” said Ram Badan, representative of Baksar gram pradhan Ram Prasad Chaurasia.
KANPUR : Hundreds of bodies were buried in shallow graves along the banks of the Ganga in Unnao district in the last three weeks, said local villagers on Wednesday, expressing fear that the rising tide could inundate the site and wash the corpses downstream.
Most of the dead included young and unmarried people. There was no room for more burials, said people from Baksar village of Bighapur tehsil in Unnao.
“As per the rituals in this part of the world, young and unmarried people are buried. But a large number of elderly were also buried due to the high cost of wood at the traditional ghat for cremation in Baksar,” said locals.
“Scores of bodies were being buried every week. But the number has gone down in the past few days,” said Ram Badan, representative of Baksar gram pradhan Ram Prasad Chaurasia.
“The administration must step in immediately for proper burial of bodies,” he said, adding that stray dogs were pulling out the bodies and every day parts of the corpses were found littered in the village.
“Because of these bodies, outbreak of other infectious diseases is feared. We dread going through the Ganga bridge in the village because of the stench,” said Shiv Govind, a villager.
Other villagers, Ramendra and Shiv Kumar, apprehended that the bodies would be swept away when the water level rises. “This is bound to happen whenever water is released upstream or the river swells in monsoon,” they said. “Priests at the cremation ghat in the village refused to perform last rites as they were not prepared to deal with huge influx of bodies,” added the villagers.
“At present, 10 to 12 bodies are being cremated at the ghat in the traditional way daily by setting up the funeral pyre. Earlier, one or two bodies used to be brought here. But the number rose during panchayat elections. I helped with cremation of 20 to 25 bodies in a day. I never saw such a large number of bodies,” said Babloo Panda, who performs last rites at the ghat.
“Those who are not in a position to pay for the cremation at the ghat, bury the dead along the river bank,” he added,
A former village pradhan said the stench of corpses on the riverbank was noticeable in a radius of one mile. “Stray dogs are pulling out the corpses and eating into them,” he added.
When asked about the largescale burials, sub-divisional magistrate of Bighapur, Daya Prakash Pandey, said he was unaware about it. “We will look into the matter,” he added. District magistrate Ravindra Kumar was not available despite repeated attempts.
Baksar has a cremation site that is currently serving villages even 60km away, said locals.
Last week, many bodies were found floating in Yamuna in Hamirpur. According to Hamirpur police, the bodies were immersed into the river.
Villagers had claimed that areas on the outskirts were ravaged by Covid post panchayat elections and people were immersing bodies into river to avoid the cost of cremation at the traditional ghat.