Bokaro burning ghats cremate 198 bodies in 5 days, run short of timber

Bokaro: With the death toll due to Covid-19 rising in the district, its burning ghats and crematoriums are running out of timber to cremate the dead.
Jai Maa Kali Trust of the main crematorium (Ghat) at Chas Bridge in the district has started facing a shortage of logs. More than 35 bodies are being cremated daily at the ghat.
Record keepers at the ghat said 446 corpses were cremated in the past 30 days. Before the spike in cases, a maximum of seven corpses were cremated in a day.
Chas SDO Shashi Prakash Singh said the circle officer has been tasked to ensure the availability of logs. Crematoriums in Bokaro are entirely dependent on logs as there are no electric or gas-powered human incinerators at present. The trustees have requested Chas Nagar Nigam and companies like Bokaro Steel Plant (BSL), among others, till a month ago to install the facility, but in vain.
Gopal Murarka, a social worker and a trustee of the Chas Ghat, said: “Increase in the number of cremations has led to a shortage of woods. A pyre usually requires up to 600 kg of timber.”
Record keepers at the ghat said 198 corpses were cremated in the past five days. “Of the total, 59 were Covid-19 patients,” said Lakhan Mahatha, a record keeper at the Ghat. However, the administration has put the death toll due to Covid-19 at 19. Staff at the ghat said the body count included many people who died in home isolation.
Sources said, “There are lakhs of tons of logs stocked at the school ground of BSL. These are the logs of the trees which were felled during the expansion of Bokaro airstrip. But the forest department, which is the custodian of the logs, is not permitting its use for cremation.”