Delhi govt details steps taken to reduce delay in disposing of bodies

NEWDELHI: The Delhi government on Friday told the High Court that they had taken urgent steps to ensure there was no delay in the disposal of the bodies of persons who died of Covid-19 or were suspected to have died of the disease.

The High Court had, on Thursday, taken suo moto cognisance of bodies piling up in Covid-19 mortuaries and filed a public interest litigation ( PIL).

In the PIL, the court had quoted a Hindustan Times report dated May 28 that detailed how all 80 storage racks at the Covid-19 mortuary of the Lok Nayak Hospital were full and 28 bodies were stacked on the floor.

During the hearing on Friday, the Delhi government’s additional standing counsel Sanjay Ghose told the bench of chief justice DN Patel and justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal that urgent steps, such as extending working hours at the crematorium from 9am to 4pm to 7am to 10pm (from May 17), had been taken.

“We have further informed the court that 29 bodies were disposed of on May 28, and on May 30 the remaining 35 bodies will be disposed of. Only bodies on which autopsies or investigations are to be carried out will be retained. We assured the Court that all steps are being taken to avoid such circumstances in the future,” Ghose said.

The government’s additional standing counsel said that many other steps have been taken to resolve the situation. One such step he mentioned was allowing Lok Nayak Hospital to send bodies to others crematoriums and not just Nigambodh Ghat. “Lok Nayak Hospital was earlier authorised to send bodies only to Nigambodh Ghat. However, now it can also send bodies to crematoriums at Panchkuian and Punjabi Bagh,” he added.

He also submitted that the government has authorised traditional wood-fired cremations, in addition to electric and CNG furnaces. PPE kits for all workers as well as bodies have been arranged, he said.

Explaining why the problem arose, the government’s additional standing counsel said that an “unavoidable situation” had arisen due to several factors such as an increase in the number of Covid-19 deaths in those threefour days.