Burials along Ganga not new but numbers too high now

The numbers we are learning about are not in sync with the burials that used to take place occasionally in these parts. SN BAJPAI, a social activist

KANPUR: Burials along the Ganga were not new in the hinterland where there was a tradition of people laying to rest the young, the unmarried and those who died unnaturally on the riverbank, locals and social activists said.

But this time the number of graves found at four places in Unnao and three places in Kanpur were astoundingly high, said SN Bajpai, a social activist. “The numbers we are learning about are not in sync with the burials that used to take place occasionally in these parts,” he said.

In Kannauj, Amit Deep Singh Bais said, “People were indeed buried (earlier), but one or two bodies in a month or two. Visit Nanamau (now) and just count the number of graves with yellow or orange cloth laid over them. They are new graves; they are in hundreds.”

About six years ago, in 2015, the mortal remains of about 100 people who had been buried over a period of several years at Pariyar Ghat in Unnao were exposed when the water receded. Pariyar and Unnao are an hour’s drive apart.

The bodies were discovered on January 12 that year after there were rumours that the mortal remains of victims of a hooch tragedy were being dumped in Pariyar. An inquiry was ordered into the discovery of the bodies. The then sub divisional magistrate (SDM) of Bighapur was tasked with conducting the probe. The fate of the inquiry is not known six years after the incident. The current SDM Daya Shankar Pandey said he was unaware of it. Unnao district magistrate Ravindra Kumar said he would have to find out.

But he added that Pariyar and Buxar had their borders with different districts in two corners of Unnao.

Pariyar is close to Kanpur and Buxar to Fatehpur. Both the ghats at Pariyar and Buxar get the bodies from these districts for cremation, and many are buried.

Several graves were found on the riverbed in Buxar (Unnao), on an islet just 300 metres away in the middle of river and also in Rautapur, according to a survey that Pandey and his team conducted on Wednesday.