Sikar, May 11

A tehsildar in Rajasthan's Sikar district made arrangements for the funeral of an elderly woman after no one came forward to assist the family fearing that she might have been a COVID patient.

Dhod Tehsildar Rajni Yadav arranged a private vehicle for taking the elderly woman's body to the cremation ground after the family could not get an ambulance.

Yadav also made preparations for the last rites at the cremation ground while wearing a PPE kit, following which the elderly woman's husband lit the funeral pyre.

"I took the initiative to take the body to the cremation ground in a private vehicle because the ambulance could not be arranged in time. I went to the funeral ground for the preparations because there was no one to assist the elderly man and his two minor grandchildren," Yadav told PTI on Tuesday.

"There was no one to assist the family so on the humanitarian ground I did what I could have done for them," she said.

Sayar Kanwar died in Sikar district on Monday. Her husband pleaded with his neighbours to help him in taking the body to the cremation ground but no one came forward fearing that the woman might have been a COVID patient.

When Yadav was informed about the incident, she reached Kanwar's house and requested community health centre authorities to provide an ambulance. 

But when no ambulance came for two hours, she arranged a private vehicle and took the body for cremation.

In Sikar district, 21 people have died in 21 days since April 15 after they attended the funeral of a COVID patient.

The funeral was done without following the COVID protocol and nearly 150 people had attended it. — PTI