Crematoria reeling under pressure; 513 virus deaths in 2 wks

New Delhi: Even as fatalities due to COVID-19 infection in the city—which is under the grips of a second wave of the pandemic—keeps mounting, Delhi's burial grounds and crematoria are once again feeling the heat and struggling to cope with piling bodies and an increasing death toll.

In the first 14 days of April, Delhi reported 513 Covid-19 deaths.

Millennium Post visited some of these facilities and found families having to wait for long hours to cremate or bury their loved ones while staff members at the facilities, appointed to dispose of the bodies, are facing pressure due to reduced manpower and shrinking space.

At one of the city's largest crematoriums, Nigambodh Ghat, a sense of chaos unfolded as relatives were seen lined up at the waiting area of the COVID-19 block, waiting for their turn to arrive. "They had issued me a slip at 8:30 am when I arrived here but nothing has been done till now... me and 20 of my other relatives have only been waiting since then," Rocky Tusheer (27) whose uncle passed away due to COVID-19 at LNJP Hospital on Tuesday said.

Gautam, waiting to put his grandfather on the funeral pyre, told Millennium Post that in addition to the long waiting hours, there has been a shortage of ambulances ferrying the bodies from hospitals. "Each ambulance brings at least two to three bodies...no government ambulances are available and one has to hire only private ones…" Gautam added.

The staff at the facility said that at least 15 to 20 COVID-19 bodies have been arriving daily for a week now. "We have doubled up our facilities as bodies have been arriving every hour," said Avdesh Sharma, crematorium supervisor.

He, however, denied the allegations of long waiting hours and asserted that "it takes some time" but the overall procedure has been smooth.

The crematorium, as per staff, has a capacity for around 25 to 30 COVID-19 casualties while there are six CNG incinerators, three of which are under repair, which workers say poses a problem with a waiting time of two hours.

Similarly, at ITO's Qabristan Ahle Islam, one of the largest cemeteries, at least 17 to 18 bodies have been arriving in ambulances daily even as space to bury them decreases. "Since a week, we have been facing the heat and are struggling to find space to bury the bodies...more gravediggers have also been called in," supervisor Mashkoor Rashid said.

"We have a capacity for 100 COVID-19 bodies left and half of it is full already... this time the virus seems even more virulent... bodies arriving this time are double of what they were last time…," Waseem, one of the gravediggers, said.

At a crematorium at Punjabi Bagh, while supervisors refused to divulge information, a staff member said that the facility has a capacity of a total of 70 funeral pyres, out of which 50 are being occupied daily.

"Just two days back, I was handling around 10 bodies, but suddenly the deaths have shot up and now we are overburdened as we don't even have enough staff members," the functionary said.