GHMC's rules tough, no takers for disposal

Hyderabad: Disposing of unidentified bodies is a social challenge and efforts should be made to rope in NGOs to conduct last rites, according to senior IAS officer R. Chandravadan, who worked on this issue during his tenure as Hyderabad Collector a long time back.

An NGO called Satya Harischandra Foundation used to dispose of unclaimed bodies of Hindus until a few years ago. The work stopped when its contract was over. Thereafter, the GHMC took over this work; and predictably, laxity set in.

Unclaimed bodies of Muslims are taken away by Siasat to perform the last rites. According to Mr Chandravadan, there should be an institutional mechanism to deal with this. Bodies should be disposed of after 72 hours,” he stressed.

Mr Chandravadan said he was the one who roped in the Satya Harischandra Foundation for performing last rites on unclaimed bodies at OGH. More NGOs could be involved so that this process goes on without hassles, he said.

GHMC officials said they called for proposals from NGOs to dispose of unidentified bodies from OGH, but “tougher guidelines” therein – in typical bureaucratic style – scuttled the idea, and there were no takers. “One of the conditions was that the NGO should have its own land to perform the last rites. These guidelines were issued in January. No one came forward,” stated an official.

GHMC is now left with no option but to do the job it has been doing for last three years. Earlier, bodies were sent to electric crematoriums at Amberpet and Bansilalpet, but these facilities became dys-functional and hence the bodies are being burnt as per Hindu customs.