PIL in HC claims lack of crematoriums in national capital to deal with rising COVID fatalities

NEW DELHI: A PIL in the Delhi High Court on Wednesday claimed that there is a lack of adequate cremation or burial sites in the national capital to deal with the daily rise in fatalities due to Covid-19. A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jasmeet Singh issued notice to the Delhi government and sought its response to the plea which seeks allocation of additional permanent or temporary places for cremation of dead bodies.

The court listed the matter for hearing on May 17 along with a similar plea which was taken up on Tuesday by the bench. The fresh plea by Delhi resident Jaswinder Singh Jolly also seeks a direction to the government to frame guidelines for the cremation of those deceased who loved ones cannot perform the last rites due to Covid-19.

In his plea, the petitioner has claimed that family members of the deceased “are being made to run from one cremation facility to another due to lack of space as well as wood”. “This leads to mental harassment of the family, who are already suffering,” it said.