ASI laid to rest 24 hours after demise as 3 villages refuse cremation amid Cov fears

Gumla: The body of a Covid-19 victim was taken from one village to another for cremation for one full day after residents did not allow the last rites fearing the spread of the viral infection and was finally laid to rest on Monday at his native place in the district after the intervention of the district administration.
According to family members, Alextius Lakra (65), retired assistant sub-inspector of police and a resident of Jori village under Bishunpur police station, died at the Gumla sadar hospital on Sunday.
After Lakra tested positive, he was taken to the CHC Bishunpur on Thursday, from where he was referred to the sadar hospital. Soon after he died on Sunday, his body was wrapped in a PPE kit and taken to the Mundar dam burial site in an ambulance for the last rites. Earlier, three persons who succumbed to the infection were also buried there.
However, the villagers of Mundar did not allow Lakra's family to bury him. The relatives, who also wore PPE kits, then took the body in a tractor to Jehangutwa village. There, the villagers, too, did not allow the burial.
It was then one of Lakra's relative in Jehangutwa suggested the burial be done in his plot but the villagers still refused. Thereafter, the body was brought to Chera village, but the locals there also objected.
Finally, the family members performed the last rites at the native village of the deceased around 11 am on Monday after the intervention of the district administration, Bishunpur BDO Chhanda Bhattacharya said.
She further said, "We were not informed about the incident till Sunday night. As soon as I came to know about it, the body was kept in block headquarters. Residents of Lakra’s own village were informed and with their cooperation and local administration buried the body at Jori."
Bhattacharya added, "There is a protocol for disposal of Covid victims but the villagers feared that cremation or burial of such bodies could infect the locals. That misconception needs to be eliminated."
The BDO said four persons from Bishunpur have succumbed to Covid -19 and all have been disposed of in Jori though they died in different hospitals.