Hyderabad: The increasing intensity of the COVID-19 pandemic has created such a terror among ordinary people and officials that they have forgotten the basic decency in dealing with the bodies of those who are dying from this dreaded virus.
In a bone-chilling incident, civic officials in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh used an earthmover to remove the body of a person who had died of coronavirus, as none of his relatives or family members came forward to perform his last rites.
After the video of the incident showing how the body was lifted and dumped by an earthmover went viral, the state government placed Palasa-Kasibugga area Municipal Commissioner T. Nagendra Kumar under suspension on Saturday.
The body of the 70-year-old coronavirus victim was seen lying at his home in Palasa Municipal Corporation limits as nobody came forward to take the body away for cremation.
Municipal workers to the rescue
The old man’s relatives were reluctant to touch it, while the neighbours were insisting that it should be taken away immediately to avoid the spread of the virus. Finally, the victim’s grandson sought help from municipal sanitary workers for cremation. Municipal workers in personal protection gear brought a JCB earthmover to lift the body and take it away to the cremation ground for last rites.
Ironically, the victim, identified as K.A. Swamy, was a former employee of the same municipal corporation. His son K.K. Rao denied that the relatives and family members did not come forward to perform last rites. “It was the municipal officials who had asked us not to touch the body”, he claimed.
A short while after this incident, Srikakulam district was rocked by another shocking incident in which relatives of a 66-year-old woman fled from her funeral when reports came that she had tested positive for coronavirus.
Triggering panic
According to local officials the woman from the Sompeta area had died of unknown causes on Friday, but as a precautionary measure, her blood sample was sent for testing. Even as her funeral was under way and a lot of people were present there, news came in that the deceased had tested positive for coronavirus.
It created a panic and most of those who had come to attend the funeral fled from the scene. Only her son and two other relatives were left behind who took help from the sanitary workers of the municipality to move the body to a crematorium.
Sanitary workers helped in wrapping the body in personal protective equipment and used a tractor to move the body away. Not only did the local people refuse to extend a help hand, but they also tried to stop the sanitary workers from entering the village.
These incidents occurred in Andhra Pradesh where the spread of coronavirus has created an alarming situation. On Saturday, the state recorded 796 fresh cases, taking the total to 12,285. Eleven more people have died from the virus during the last 24 hours, taking the overall death toll to 157.
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