NEW DELHI: After last year’s resistance by residents of Madanpur Khadar against burial of Covid-infected bodies, the authorities are not using the local facility.
But the main Covid burial facility at the Firoz Shah Kotla new cemetery, which is catering to the largest percentage of such burials in the city, is fast filling up and funeral managers say if the current death rate continues, the authorities may soon be forced to designate more Covid burial grounds.
Mashkoor Rashid, who is in charge of the Kotla burial ground, said they were receiving 15-16 Covid-protocol bodies every day and space for only 70-80 bodies were left in the Covid block. More than 435 bodies have been buried in this 1.7-acre block since last year.
One of the oldest burial grounds in the capital, the facility’s non-Covid free space, too, is fast shrinking. Rashid said that in many cases, families decided to dig the same old grave and bury another body in the same space. He also complained about the shortage of PPE kits and other protective equipment.
Last year, the civic bodies had reserved Covid-designated burial spaces in Kotla, Mangolpuri, Mulla Colony, Shastri Park and Madanpur Khadar. Abdul Rehman, who manages the Madanpur Khadar facility on behalf of the Kalam Welfare Society, said when the bodies of Covid patients were brought last June, locals started throwing stones and no body could be buried. “There was a lot of ruckus and police had to be called in. This year, the corporation hasn’t sent us Covid-protocol bodies,” he added.
The removal has increased the pressure on the other four burial grounds. North Delhi Municipal Corporation is utilising the Mangolpuri ground for Covid-protocol burials. An official overseeing the operations said a small section of the ground was reserved for such funerals and the rate at which bodies were coming would soon lead to exhaustion of this block.
“In Mangolpuri, we have a cremation ground, and Muslim and Christian cemeteries adjacent to each other. On Wednesday, we received 17 dead bodies for Covid-protocol funerals. Each hospital is linked with one ground and the corporation may soon have to reassign these grounds or add more facilities to the list,” the official said.