Stone-pelting, protests during cremation of 2 Covid casualties

Jamshedpur: Two Covid-19 casualties’ last rites at Subernarekha ghat here on Sunday was marred by protests and stone-pelting by the locals who had turned up at the site in hordes to oppose the cremation fearing the spread of the virus.
Dhalbhum SDM Chandan Kumar said, “The protesters relented after we explained to them that the cremation is being done in an electrical furnace and thus, there’s no threat to the safety of their lives.”
The district health department officials arrived at the ghat with the body of a 71-year-old man who died at Tata Main Hospital (TMH) on Saturday. Although the Sonari resident tested positive for Covid-19 on July 1, he died of multi-organ failure.
In addition to this, an 81-year-old woman, who tested positive following her death at TMH on Saturday evening, was brought to the ghat as well. Besides the locals opposing her cremation, her son, a resident of Baradwari, Sakchi, refused to perform the last rites of his mother amid fears of contracting the virus. He agreed only after persuasion from the district officials.
Fearing resistance from the locals, the district administration had deployed adequate police force at the burning ghat. Police had to use mild lathi-charge to disperse the crowd, which did not maintain the social distancing norms. Two female policemen sustained minor injuries in the commotion, officials said.
City SP Subhash Chandra Jat said that that a few women protesters have been detained for questioning in connection with the stone-pelting incident. “We have to inquire whether the stone-pelting was a spontaneous reaction or somebody incited them to do so,” the SP added.
Meanwhile, the district administration has instructed more than six families in Sonari to remain in isolation because their domestic help also worked at the septuagenarian’s home. As the deceased was suffering from various ailments for a long period of time, he was being attended to by a nurse at home. Locals fear that the nurse could be a virus carrier now. A contact-tracing exercise is also underway by the administration.
The locals said that the family of the deceased did not follow the standard operating procedure and mingled with the neighbours even after the man tested positive. They added that the administration should have announced it through loudspeakers about a Covid patient being present in the locality and ensured that the family members did not mingle with others.
In Sakchi, the district authorities sealed a shop in Sakchi market, when the news surfaced that the deceased Covid patient had visited the shop weeks before her death. The employees of the shop have been instructed to stay in home quarantine and the shop was sanitized by the administration.
Jusco billing office had to be closed when one of its employees was tested positive. The office had to be sanitized, sources said.