‘Two crematoriums in Steel City become super spreaders’

JAMSHEDPUR: The two crematoriums in Jamshedpur -- Parvati Subarnarekha ghats -- are working round the clock as the number of Covid deaths are on the rise in the district and health experts said the sites have now become hotspots of the viral infection.
Sources said even after the government put a cap on the number of people attending cremations, several relatives flout the rules and there is hardly any space left for social distancing when the bodies are being burnt.
Mahesh Sahu, whose father died of Covid on Sunday, said he cremated his father at Parvati Ghat and several people who attended the last rites were found positive. Talking to TOI, Mahesh said he performed the rituals without wearing PPE kits.
Experts say such action is against the Covid protocols.
Mahesh is not alone and not a single person at the ghat was seen wearing PPE kits. Even drivers of vehicles ferrying the bodies were not seen wearing any protective suits.
A Parvati Ghat official, D K Bhatt, said relatives of Covid victims adhered to protocols while performing the last rites last year, but people seemed to be lax this time. "Now, crematoriums will be super-spreaders of the virus soon if no action is taken up," he said.
Dr Anita Banerjee, who retired from MGMMCH, said the district administration should set up a police picket at both the crematoriums and ensure that all rules are followed. She said the number of persons accompanying the bodies must be strictly restricted so that there is no overcrowding.
She said the need of the hour is to be extra cautious and such loopholes can just be fatal and add to the already rising Covid numbers in the city.
Meanwhile, the campus of the crematoriums are not being sanitized and the area is not being cleaned by civic bodies regularly, which is adding to the woes.
Notably every day more than 50 bodies are being brought to both the burning ghats here. As many of the bodies are being burned in conventional wooden furnaces due to non-availability of electric furnaces the area needs to be cleaned and sanitized on regular intervals, which is not being done.