India: Official Government Confirmation of COVID-19 Victims’ Bodies in Ganges River

A government document dated 05/15/2021 confirms that the bodies of coronavirus victims were found dumped into the Indian river Ganges.

The document, which became the first official confirmation of the vicious practice, was reviewed by Reuters. It says that the reasons for the dumping of the bodies of the dead patients in the holy river waters for Hindus are, most likely, poverty and fear of a previously unknown disease in the villages. The population of the country was shocked by the images of corpses that simply float along the river.

Some states, such as Uttar Pradesh (population 249 million), have not yet confirmed the cause of death of bodies found in the river. This is primarily due to the high degree of their decomposition. Government Official Manoj Kumar Singh says:

“The administration has information that the bodies of those who have died from COVID-19 or any other disease are being thrown into rivers instead of being disposed of in accordance with proper rituals. As a result, bodies were recovered from rivers in many places. The bodies are decomposed, so I am not sure that in this state it is possible to learn about the positive crown stroke. “

Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, called on Saturday for stronger epidemiological surveillance and increased rural health resources as the virus spreads rapidly.

The densely populated state of Uttar Pradesh has been hit hard by the second wave of COVID-19. Experts say many cases remain uncertain in villages where most of its population lives.

In the document, Singh points out that a lack of funds for firewood for cremation, as well as religious beliefs in some communities, have become likely reasons for the sharp increase in the number of spontaneous dumps.

He appealed to officials with a request to ensure the prevention of dumping corpses into the river and pledged to allocate 5,000 rupees ($ 68) from the state government to the poorest families for cremation or burial of the dead. To stop the evil practice, the police will patrol the banks of the river.

For almost 2 weeks, official sources have reported 4,000 deaths from coronavirus daily. In fact, experts are convinced that there are many more victims, given the lack of information from the villages. The increase in the number of victims has increased the cost of cremation and delayed these processes. However, reports from some media outlets about the removal of 2,000 covid corpses from the Ganges in the past few days were denied on Saturday by Navnit Segal, an official in Uttar Pradesh. “We retrieve 10 to 20 bodies from time to time,” he told Reuters. Segal cited Hindu traditions at certain periods of religious significance as one of the reasons.

On Sunday, the number of cases of coronavirus in India reached 24.7 million, an increase of 311,170 per day. Over the past 24 hours, 4,077 people have died in the country.

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