ANANTAPUR: Burial grounds here are witnessing long queues of bodies of the Covid-dead for the final rites. Most villages and even mandal headquarters are not permitting such bodies brought from hospitals to be buried or cremated in their existing facilities.
In addition, ambulance services are charging high rates. Hence, families of the deceased in hospitals here opt for the cremation here itself.
It is learnt that a district official had to conduct final rights of her husband in Penukonda after standing in a long queue of Covid-dead at a local burial ground in JNTUA Road in last month.
K Chinna of Chennampalli in Kambadur admitted his father at the General Hospital and he died after 10 days after his lungs’ functioning deteriorated a couple of days ago. With help from relatives, he completed the final rights at the 6th Road Hindu Dahana Vatika. There was no way he could conduct the final rights in the village.
“I was asked to cover the body of my father with a white cloth. The locals in the surrounding areas objected to the burning of the Covid-dead,” he said.
An average of eight bodies was burnt at the Hindu Dahana Vatika everyday irrespective of caste and creed, its secretary Raghavendra Joshi observed. Previously, only Brahmins and Kshathriyas were using the Dahana Vatika, but all sections of Hindus are permitted to the burn mortal remains of deceased now, the organisers said.
AGS Reddy Trust founder Anil Kumar Reddy donated Rs 40,000 worth of firewood for the burning of bodies as the Dahana Vatika was doing the service on a voluntary basis.
Normally, more than 2,000 Covid patients were being brought to hospitals in Anantapur town and the RDT hospital at Bathalapalli for better medical aid. At least 10 patients died at RDT hospital and more at GGH, and the Cancer and Super Specialty hospitals here.
The bodies were being cremated at local facilities. “Our volunteers assisted in the cremation of bodies of more than 130 Covid-dead at the Drivers Colony burial ground for Muslims,” said Muthavali Shakil Shafi. He added that bodies brought from other areas are also cremated at the local burial ground.
