Last rite delays: Delhi government says taking urgent steps

NEW DELHI: The AAP government assured the high court on Friday that it was taking immediate steps to tackle the issue of delay in cremations of those who die due to Covid-19 and bodies piling up at mortuaries.
It said the situation based on which the court had initiated suo motu proceedings on Thursday was a result of unavoidable circumstances due to reduced capacity of Nigambodh Ghat to handle bodies on account of snags in furnaces, workers refusing to handle Covid-19 deceased, sudden spike in the coronavirus cases and related deaths and relatives refusing to claim bodies.
The authorities informed a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal that all steps are being taken to avoid such circumstances in future.
In its May 28 order, the court had referred to news reports and observed that “bodies of those who died five days ago are yet to be cremated.”
The government told the court that 28 such bodies were cremated on Thursday and the last rites of the remaining 35 would be performed by Saturday. Only those bodies will be retained where postmortem and investigations are to be carried out, the government added.
The high court then cautioned the government to ensure that such a situation is not repeated and bodies should not be returned once they are brought to the crematoriums. It also asked Delhi government and the three municipal corporations to file a detailed status report and listed the matter for further hearing on June 2.
During the Friday’s hearing, Delhi government additional standing counsel Sanjoy Ghose said that urgent steps were taken to remedy the situation, including LNJP Hospital being authorised to divert bodies to crematoriums at Panchkuian and Punjab Bagh as well. He said the government has now allowed wood-fired traditional cremations in addition to electric and CNG furnaces, provided personal protection equipment (PPE) kits to all workers and bodies and extended the working hours of crematoriums to 7am-10 pm from the existing 9 am-4 pm.