Unlike Delhi & UP, Punjab ensures dignity to its dead

Manav Mander

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, May 28

The Case Fatality Rate in Punjab remains the highest in the country, yet, unlike Delhi and UP, there are no long queues for the last rites of Covid victims, with the administration increasing the number of chambers and platforms at various crematoriums.

In Ludhiana district, the LPG-operated Ramgarhia crematorium in Dholewal and Swami Vivekanand Swarg Ashram Trust at Model Town had two gas chambers each till last year and both have added two more. With this, the city has eight gas-operated chambers. The Dana Mandi crematorium had seven platforms and now it has 20. In all, seven crematoriums have been marked in Ludhiana for Covid victims.

To ensure dignity to the dead, the district administration has set up a cremation cell, whose mobile numbers are given by hospitals to the bereaved families. The cell arranges an ambulance, wood/LPG and PPE and informs the family about the cremation time.

“We daily cremate 30 bodies as compared to 15 last year. If the patient dies late at night, the cremation is done the next day. The body is moved to the Civil Hospital mortuary in case the hospital does not have its own,” says Judgepreet Singh, member, NGO Samvedna Trust.

At Bathinda, the crematorium at the Grain Mandi has 24 platforms and the one adjacent to DAV College has four. Cremations are done round the clock and at times even late in the night by NGOs Naujawan Welfare Society and Sahara Jan Sewa. On one occasion, the crematorium ran out of space and nine bodies were consigned to flames on the ground.

“We did not want the families to wait for cremation. So after seeking their permission, the bodies which could not be accommodated on the designated place were burnt on ground that is covered with tiles. The need for more slabs in the crematorium never arose,” says Sonu Maheshwari, chairman, Naujawan Welfare Society. There is no gas-operated crematorium at Bathinda.

In Amritsar, the cremation is done mainly at Shivpuri near the Durgiana Temple and the Shaheedan crematorium near Gurdwara Baba Deep Singh. “We have added 35 new platforms. The number now stands at 105. On a couple of occasions, the last rites of the bodies were done on the ground instead of the platform after which more platforms were constructed. We have one gas-operated chamber but people are reluctant to use it,” says Ramesh Sharma, president, Shri Durgaina Committee, who also looks after the Shivpuri cremation ground.

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