Dead bodies in Ganga: States along river course on alert to avoid repeat of such incident

Mukesh Ranjan
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, May 14

Taking note of the dead bodies being washed up along the Ganges in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Bihar, the West Bengal government has asked officials in the Malda district, where the river enters the state, to keep a strict vigil at the river’s entry point.

In the meantime, district authorities in UP and Bihar too have been put on high alert to prevent a repeat of such incidents after a nudging by the National Mission for Clean Ganga and a notice issued by National Human Rights Commission to the two states after dead bodies were found floating in the Ganges.

“We have started a vigil. Mechanised country boats and speed boats have been deployed and patrolling has been stepped up in the river, particularly at Manikchak,” a senior official of Malda district is reported to have said, adding that local fishermen and boatmen have also been sensitised to inform the police and local authorities if they spot any corpse floating in the river.

Local administration fished at least 70 bodies out of Ganga in Bihar’s Buxar district on Tuesday. Later, another 12 corpses were spotted in the same river upstream in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh’s Ghazipur district, triggering probes in both states and speculation that the bodies belonged to Covid patients. More dead bodies have been found buried in the sand in Unnao.

Authorities at the Farrakka Barrage, which lies around 22 km downstream from the spot where the river enters Bengal, have also been alerted, the officials informed.

The Adityanath government in UP has issued a directive to the local authorities in the districts falling along the course of the Ganga river, asking them to impose fine on those who “try or actually” throw dead bodies in the river.

“Teams of SDRF and PAC’s water Police have been deployed along the Ganges and other rivers of the state to conduct patrolling to ensure that dead bodies are not abandoned and thrown there,” said a spokesperson of the UP government.

Directives have also been issued to district administrations to fix the cost of funerals (according to religious belief) and if bodies are found unclaimed then the administration should perform their “respectful disposal”, the spokesperson said.  

Following the directive, Ghazipur District Magistrate MP Singh said, “We have capped the price of firewood at Rs 650/quintal and ‘dom raja’ would not take more than Rs 500 for cremating a body. We are setting up a control room at each crematorium, where police personnel and Lekhpal would be stationed.” He further said, if any person is unable to bear expenses of cremation and goes to any crematorium, “we will provide them with Rs 5000 immediately and bear all expenses of cremation”.

In Bihar too similar directives have been issued by the state government, as DM of Buxar Aman Samir said, “As a preventive measure we have put a ‘mahajal (massive fishing net)’ across the river at the point where it enters Bihar to stop bodies from UP coming to our side. Proper lighting arrangements have been made on all the cremation ghats in the district, as police and other block-level officials have been deployed to ensure locals do not resort to burying dead bodies in the water. The cost of cremation has also been rationalised now.”     

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