The Mystery of the Finding of Bodies in the Ganges, What is the Cause? Page all

KOMPAS.com – Police on India currently investigating the discovery corpse-combs stranded on the edge Ganges River.

Launch BBC, The bodies were stranded in Gahmar, Uttar Pradesh, for the past few days.

Early last week, at least 40 bodies were pulled from the river downstream from Gahmar.

The question behind the discovery of these bodies is still unknown.

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However, the parties attributed this to the second wave Covid-19 that is happening in India.

“Around 35-40 bodies were seen, many of which could be Covid-19 victims. On a typical day we see two to three such bodies in this stretch of river, but the numbers are high because of the deadly outbreak,” said a local Navy official. , Kant, to the DPA news agency quoted from DW , Tuesday (11/5/2021).

Objections related to Covid-19

However, allegations related to the Covid-19 victim were denied.

Reported DW, Sunday (16/5/2021), Navneet Sehgal, a spokesman for the Uttar Pradesh state government, denied that the finding of more than 1,000 bodies in the area over the past two weeks was linked to a second wave. corona virus in India.

“I believe these agencies have nothing to do with Covid-19,” he said.

Officials say the burial of the bodies by the river has been going on for decades and that heavy rain has uncovered a shallow grave on the riverbank in Prayagraj, a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

Launch The Indian Express, on May 12, 2021, a corpse was also found on the banks of the Ganges River in Buxar Bihar district.

However, the Bihar government believes the bodies are floating bodies from Uttar Pradesh.

“There are several cremation sites along the river. The corpse being sent out into the water is nothing unusual. The locals are used to seeing floating bodies. What is surprising here is the number of bodies, and the risk of Covid-19 they may carry. But the bodies found floating in the river near the cremation site are not in themselves ‘apocalyptic’, ”said Ashutosh Kumar Pandey, a social worker from Pandeypur village in Buxar district. The Indian Express.

According to residents around the river, the river bends near Chausa so that a floating body is trapped there.

Residents say the bodies may have been dumped into the river for a number of reasons. The reason is that the poor often cannot afford to buy firewood until the corpses are cremated but then dumped into the river in a half-burnt state.

A log pile usually fetches around Rs 8,000 (approx Rp. 1.5 million). This figure is quite expensive for them. Meanwhile, in the midst of a pandemic situation, the fee has risen to Rs 15,000 (around Rp. 2.9 million).

In the case of the Covid-19 death, there was also concern about stigma so that some people secretly dumped the bodies of loved ones into the river.

A Senior State Official, Manoj Kumar Sigh, in a letter issued on May 14 said those who died from Covid-19 were also dumped into the river.

“The government has information that the bodies of those who died from Covid-19 or other diseases are dumped into the river instead of being disposed of according to proper rituals,” he was quoted as saying. SCMP.

The Indian government is considered unprepared

However, the finding of bodies floating in India has revealed how unprepared the country is for the second wave of Covid-19.

Buxar Member of Parliament, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, said the region was not ready for the living or the dead.

In rural areas, they have to go to a hospital that is far away for a Covid-19 test because there is only one proper hospital and three referral centers in the area.

In addition, along the Ganges line, there is not a single electric crematorium.

Meanwhile, what concerns residents right now is water pollution and how it is handled.

“The bodies appear, the government is letting them. But if even some of the bodies are Covid-19 patients, what about water purification? Dogs bite the bodies and now roam the villages. How big is the risk? they plan to tackle water pollution. We don’t care if the bodies come from Uttar Pradesh or Bihar. We just want to know what harm they are causing us, and how the government plans to protect us, “said Sarita Devi, a Buxar resident.

Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are currently among the states hard hit by the second wave of the pandemic.

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