Bihar : Bodies of suspected covid patients found floating in Ganga

People living near Ganga ghats at Chausa in Buxar district woke up to catastrophic scenes on Monday, as at least 30 bloated and decomposed bodies were found floating on the banks of the river.
Though Buxar district administration claimed that the bodies are from neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, locals claimed many people from villages situated on the banks of Ganga dispose of the bodies in the river. Some also attributed it to the high cost of cremation or funeral pyres and said that the bodies were of people who succumbed to Covid-19.

According to Mr. Varma, the exorbitant cost of cremation could have forced the poor to jettison bodies in the river.“It nearly costs ₹30,000-40,000 to cremate a body. So the poor people prefer to push bodies into the river Ganga,” he said. “Stray dogs are devouring these bodies which could be of COVID-19 victims. It will spread the virus as well,” he added.

Local officials who visited the village, however, said there were “about 10-12 dead bodies floating in the river water”. While acknowledging that most of the bodies could of COVID victims, officials said “they could have floated in from neighbouring districts of U.P.

“The dead bodies are bloated. They seem to have been in the water for at least 5-7 days. It needs to be investigated from where they’ve come. They could be from Varanasi or Allahabad,” senior official of the district K.K. Upadhayay told media persons.

Chausa Block Development Officer (BDO) Ashok Kumar said, “None of the deceased happens to be a resident of the district”, adding, “how can we confirm whether the deceased were indeed COVID-19 positive? The bodies have decomposed and bloated but we’re ensuring they would be disposed off in decent manner.”

However, the villagers of Chausa said, “The local officials came, visited the spot, looked at the floating bodies from the river bank and went back.”

Demanding the deployment of officials at cremation grounds to prevent people from pushing bodies into the river, the villagers also wanted the prices of firewood to be kept in check so that families can perform their last rites properly and are not forced to discard bodies.