Dead bodies washed up on the banks of the holy river Ganga

Amid the surge in India’s covid cases and deaths in the second wave, today, on 11th, May reported over 3.5 lakh cases and 4200 deaths per the official government data.
In between this horrifying surge, disturbing visuals come Bihar’s Buxar and 55 kilometres upriver Gazipur Uttar Pradesh. The total number of counts is more than 100 so far. Bihar authorities argue that the corpses floated down from Uttar Pradesh as their state has no tradition of consigning dead bodies to water.

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With the virus rapidly spreading through the rural areas of northern India, the bodies in the river are suspected to be the victims of the covid virus.

In the absence of covid protocols in the rural crematoriums, locals fear the infection. As a result, families are forced to consign the bodies to the rivers; villagers also do not have money to buy logs due to a sudden increase in demand for wooden logs, it has been suspected.
“We have got the information. Our officers are present on the spot, and an investigation is underway. We are trying to find out where they came from,” M.P Singh, the District Magistrate of Gazipur, reported ANI.
Amid the fear of locals now due to this contaminated water will lead to a surge in cases. While the local administration said, we are investigating the matter.
“We informed the administration about the matter, but no action has been taken by them. If the situation continues like this, there is a fear of us getting infected by a coronavirus,” said Akhand, a resident, report ANI
Citing the Buxar incident, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Union Minister of Jal Shakti, tweeted that he has asked the concerned states “to take immediate action on the matter.”
The Narendra Modi government takes the responsibility to clean “the Mother Ganges.” This matter is severe and horrifying and requires a high investigation to determine the cause of this incident.
The authorities who disposed of the bodies said the bodies have been in the water for 3 to 4 days.
Now the blame game has been started between the Uttar Pradesh government and the Bihar government. The opposition is alleging that these bodies are those covid patients who the government hides from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar’s death count from covid.

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Locals from Jayaprabha Setu, in the Saran district, connects Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, states that ambulances come and toss the dead bodies of the covid patient into the river every day. Locals also stop taking baths, and fishers stop going to the river due to fear of infection.

The last time this type of visuals came at the time of the Spanish Flu in 1918. We haven’t learned anything in 102 years at time legend Hindi poet Suryakant Tripahati Ji Nirala writes:

निराला लिखते हैं,

“तार आया – तुम्हारी स्त्री सख्त बीमार है, अंतिम मुलाकात के लिए चले आओ.’ अखबार बता चुके थे कि महामारी कितनी जानलेवा थी. तार से पहले निराला को भयंकरता का पता तो था, लेकिन यह नहीं कि यह कहर उन पर किस तरह टूटने वाला था. ससुराल पहुंचे तो पता चला कि पत्नी गुज़र चुकी. यही नहीं, जाते हुए रास्ते में निराला ने अपने दादाज़ाद भाईसाहब की लाश जाती हुई भी देखी. कुछ ही दिनों के भीतर काल की घात का अभूतपूर्व अनुभव ऐसा हुआ कि किसी को भी जीवन भर के लिए तोड़ दे. जब परिवार के लोग मर रहे थे, तब निराला के पहुंचने पर चाचाजी ने कहा ‘तू यहां क्यों आया?’ एक ही वाक्य में प्रेम और भय महसूस करने की बात है.
देखते देखते घर साफ हो गया. जितने उपार्जन और काम करने वाले आदमी थे, साफ हो गए. चार बड़के दादा के, दो मेरे. दादा के सबसे बड़े लड़के की उम्र 15 साल, मेरी सबसे छोटी लड़की साल भर की. चारों ओर अंधेरा नज़र आता था… इतने दुख और वेदना के भीतर भी मन की विजय रही. रोज़ गंगा देखने जाया करता था. एक ऊंचे टीले पर बैठकर लाशों का दृश्य देखता था…
ह डलमऊ का अवधूत टीला था, जिसे निराला के दुख ने हिन्दी जगत में स्मारक बनाया. यहां निराला गंगा में बहती, किनारे आतीं लाशें देखा करते थे. कभी अवधूत को याद करते तो कभी संसार की नश्वरता को.”
~निराला~


References:

NDTV INDIA
ANI


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