BJP MLA travels to Nepal border, tells villagers not to dump bodies in river
The administration intensified patrolling after the villagers sounded an alert over bodies floating in the waters of the Gandak.
LUCKNOW: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Jata Shankar Tripathi on Monday travelled to the Nepal border to urge villagers not to dump bodies in the Gandak river that flows from Nepal into eastern Uttar Pradesh.
Tripathi is the lawmaker from Khadda assembly constituency in Kushinagar where the administration on Sunday had intensified patrolling by Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) after the villagers sounded an alert over bodies floating in the waters of the Gandak.
Tripathi said, “After reports that villagers are dumping bodies of suspected Covid-19 patients in the Ganga (elsewhere), I urged villagers of my constituency not to dump bodies in the Gandak that flows through the Khadda assembly constituency. I have told the villagers to carry the bodies to the cremation grounds where they will get free firewood.”
“On Sunday, when it was reported that some villagers and local journalists saw bodies floating in the water, I decided to visit villages near the river in Kushinagar as well as across the border in Nepal. I travelled by road to the villages in Khadda. I went to the villages in Nepal on a motorboat provided by PAC,” he said.
“I visited Sunaha village in Nepal to tell the villagers that dumping of the bodies will pollute the river. The villagers assured me that they will not dump the bodies in the river, rather cremate them at ghats,” he said.
Kali Das, commandant
The villagers assured me that they will not dump the bodies in the river, rather cremate them at ghats JATA SHANKAR TRIPATHI, BJP MLA from Khadda assembly constituency
Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) deployed on the India-Nepal border, was also present along with officials of the Nepal administration. There was no report of floating bodies in the Gandak river on Monday, Tripathi said.
“I have urged the Kushinagar district administration to repair the pontoon bridge constructed over the Gandak to connect Bhaisaha ghat in Kushinagar with the Sohgibarwa area in Maharajganj district,” he said.