Ranchi residents prevent burial of Covid-19 casualty

Gaurav Pandey | TNN | Apr 13, 2020, 06:01 IST

Ranchi: Residents of two localities in the city on Sunday prevented the district administration from disposing the body of the deceased Covid-19 patient at their burial grounds. Till the time of going to the press, the body was still kept at the morgue of Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (Rims), where the patient died during treatment in the morning.
Initially, Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) authorities tried to bury the body at the Joda Talaab burial ground in Bariatu here. As soon as the authorities deployed an earthmover to disposed of the body at a location further away from the normal burial areas, residents turned out in large numbers, violating the lockdown, and prevented the burial, claiming that chances of infecting them are high as the ground is close to the densely populated area.
Similar protests by over 200 residents were witnessed at the burial ground near Ratu road when the authorities went to dispose the body there after their initial bid failed. The protesters refused even after Ranchi SDM Lokesh Mishra and sadar DSP Deepk Pandey intervened. Later, SP (traffic) Ajit Peter Dungdung managed to defuse the tension and sent the protesters home after he assured them that the body will not buried at the ground.
Mishra said, “We have cancelled our plans of burying the body within the city limits and we are looking for an appropriate place outside city for the purpose.”
Health secretary Nitin Madan Kulkarni said he had already directed all 24 district administration and civic body officials to make necessary arrangements for disposing bodies of Covid-19 patients in accordance with the guidelines issued by Union ministry of health and family welfare. “We have communicated to all DCs in advance about the guidelines and they have to make necessary arrangements accordingly,” Kulkarni said.
He further said, “We have enough leak-proof plastic bags to transport bodies of Covid-19 patients and there are specific guidelines on cremation as well as burial which are being followed at all Covid-19 centres in state.”
RMC municipal commissioner Manoj Kumar said, “We are strictly following all guidelines which include sanitization of the burial pit before and after burying the body. The workers involved have been provided with protective gear, including PPE kits and hand sanitizers. So, we are not facing any issue to get the bodies disposed.”