Law Kumar Mishra
Patna, May 10: Many unburnt bodies were seen floating in the Ganga near Chausa and Charitravan ghats in Buxar district on Monday morning.
District administration claimed two were the bodies of the snake bite victims and came floating from neighbouring Uttar Pradesh. Chausa is the border village between Bihar and UP.
According to the local officials, including a circle officer and block development officer of Chausa, bodies were three to four days old and might have been dumped into the Ganga. District Magistrate of Buxar, Aman Samir, at a press conference at district headquarters on Monday evening admitted there were 30 bodies found floating on the banks of two cremation grounds of Charitra Van and Chausa’s Mahadeva Ghat.
DM had sent the district development officer, Manoj Sagar to Chausa today following reports of large number of bodies floating in the Ganga and after getting his report confirmed 30 bodies floating in the river.
On Sunday, at Charitravan ghat, seven bodies were burnt and 16 were floated in the Ganga, villagers said. At Mahadeva ghat,16 bodies were floated and nine cremated. As the price of materials for last rites have risen fast, relatives are not able to meet the cost and they prefer to be thrown into the Ganga.
Nand Kishore Ram, a dalit leader and former legislator of Rajpur in Buxar said from his village, “In our community, people are burying the bodies of the Corona victims as they cannot afford heavy cost. Also, there is no space on the two cremation grounds, where against the normal days when six to seven bodies were cremated, now the figure had touched over 100.”
There is an acute shortage of wood logs for cremation purpose, he said, adding that even the Dom Raja who help perform last rites are demanding Rs 5000 to Rs 10,000 for allowing cremation of Corona victims. Ram claimed Corona has spread into the villages and patients are not able to get immediate assistance.
According to the local villagers, the hearse drivers dump the bodies of Corona victims into the Ganga. The DM claimed these bodies were from UP. K K Upadhya, sub divisional magistrate claimed most of the bodies were of Corona victims and thrown into the Ganga by irresponsible drivers of the hearse vehicles.
