COVID deaths: Surging toll forces MCDs to scramble for firewood in national capital 

NEW DELHI:  Grim prospects of a rise in the number of Covid deaths has sent civic authorities scrambling for resources for conducting funerals in a dignified manner and also minimising inconvenience to the families. The North Delhi Municipal Corporation (North MCD) on Tuesday wrote to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal requesting him to issue directions to the forest department for ensuring availability of firewood for cremations.

North Delhi Mayor Jai Prakash said though the civic body has adequate arrangements for firewood, there is a possibility of a shortage. “As the Covid death count has increased significantly in the last two weeks, the firewood requirement has also gone up exponentially. So, a mail was sent to the CM urging him to issue directions for the forest department to ensure a steady supply of firewood. We don’t want last-minute hassles. Crematoriums should not stop because of faults. This is to minimize sufferings of the bereaved families,” said Prakash.

The corporation currently sources the wood stock for cremation from the UP government and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). Private crematoriums and sites being managed by NGOs or trusts have their own arrangements. Suman Gupta, general secretary of Badi Panchayat Vayshya Besey Agarwal, which manages the crematorium at Nigambodh Ghat, said about 400 kg of wood is required to cremate a body. In the last four days since April 24, 2,570 cremations have been conducted at various funeral sites designated for Covid victims across the capital. On Tuesday, 678 bodies were cremated. City’s present wood requirement is about 2,50,000 kg per day.

Prakash also sought 100 ambulances or hearse vans to ferry Covid patients or bodies of city residents who die of Covid. “The fatality situation is turning from bad to worse. There have been instances when relatives have refused to touch the body of Covid victims and carry patients to hospitals in their private vehicles. The corporation doesn’t have the arrangement to transport the body to the cremation or burial ground. Therefore, we have requested the Delhi government to provide ambulances and hearse vans,” said the mayor. Because of mounting pressure on cremation grounds, the corporations are also making alternative arrangements for space for performing last rites.

The South MCD is planning to set up temporary platforms at a three-acre plot in Dwarka Sector 29, where a pet dog crematorium is proposed. The agency has also prepared pyre platforms in open parking lots and vacant plots next to the Sarai Kale Khan cremation ground.