Do-gooder falls laying Covid dead to rest

Nagpur: Workers of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind (JuH), who are carrying out last rites of Covid victims in Kamptee, lost a comrade while on the job. Naqeeb Akhtar, 54, died of cardiac arrest on Sunday as he was waiting with the team to go for a funeral.
JuH, an organization of clerics, has volunteered to carry out funerals of Covid victims irrespective of the religion. Dressed in PPE kits, a team of four handles Covid body as others like Naqeeb assisted them from a distance. “Our team had returned from one funeral and were waiting to receive the second body. Naqeeb offered us to have a cup of tea till then. As we waited at the shop ,Naqeeb tumbled, we rushed him to hospital but he was dead by then,” said Maulana Mumtaz Ahmed, president of JuH Kamptee. He was accompanying Naqeeb at that time.
Ahmed said JuH had conducted nearly 50 funerals in Kamptee out of which 30 may have been persons of other religions. “Naqeeb used to accompany us often, he would stand at a distance and provide us assistance. As wearing PPEs left us sweating, Naqeeb was always there to offer water,” he said. “We continued the work, as Naqeeb’s body was taken to his home. Another team took over to do the last rites for which we had come,” said Ahmed.
Soon messages were spread on the social media with condolence pouring in. Naqeeb was an active worker and had taken part in relief work during lockdown and also last month’s flood that had affected Kamptee too, said his colleague.