Symbolic picture
– Photo : Amar Ujala
Expansion
The horrific scenes of the second wave of Corona are still remembered, when only pyres were seen on the ghats. More or less the same scenes are being seen on the ghats due to deaths in the scorching heat. On Saturday, 180 bodies were cremated at different ghats of the district. Before Nautapa, an average of 60 bodies were cremated daily. Apart from this, the maximum number of bodies cremated in both the electric crematoriums in a day was 18.
Due to the arrival of nearly three times more dead bodies at the ghats, there was not enough space. The relatives had to wait for a long time for the cremation of the bodies. Even after this, when space was not available, pyres were lit around the designated places. Not only this, people reached the ghats with dead bodies in severe heat, due to which 11 people also fainted. More dead bodies arrived at the electric crematoriums on Saturday than on other days. People started arriving at Bhairoghat electric crematorium at 7:00 am itself. Cremation started from 8:00 am. Thereafter, cremation continued till 6:30 pm.
The priests are in trouble… where should they burn so many funeral pyres
The pandits of Bhairoghat told that they were also surprised to see so many bodies together and wondered where to burn so many pyres. Where only 10 pyres could be burnt together, in view of the crowd, 17-18 pyres had to be burnt in the same space. Even then, due to lack of space, pyres had to be set up on the other side of the Ganga from the main ghat for cremation. The maximum number of cremations took place at this ghat, 43. Similarly, 15 bodies reached Bhagwatdas Ghat.