UP, Bihar indulge in blame game as bodies found floating in river Ganga on second day
The Bihar authorities had argued that the corpses had floated down from Uttar Pradesh, as their state has no tradition of consigning bodies to water.
FollowPatna/Buxar: Dead bodies washed up on the banks of Ganga were sighted for a second straight day today -- this time in Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh. Officials of Bihar and neighbouring UP engaged in a blame game over which state was responsible for dumping bodies in the river.
The Bihar authorities had argued that the corpses had floated down from Uttar Pradesh, as their state has no tradition of consigning bodies to water.
Buxar’s district magistrate Aman Samir, while confirming that 71 bodies had been recovered so far, said he had proposed for an autopsy of all the bodies. “But the doctors refused as the bodies are in a highly decomposed condition and seem to be five to six days old,” Samir said, adding that DNA of corpses would be preserved for any future need.
“Here at Buxar, as in Bihar in general, there is a custom to burn bodies after death on a funeral pyre. But when a team was sent to neighbouring Ghazipur district of Uttar Pradesh, it found some people there believe in throwing the bodies into the river,” the Buxar DM said.
The Bihar government said 71 bodies had been retrieved and cremated after autopsies that failed to confirm if the deaths were caused by Covid-19. Union jal shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat termed the dumping of bodies in the Ganga “unfortunate” and a matter that must be investigated.
Tagging Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and his Uttar Pradesh counterpart Yogi Adityanath in a tweet on Tuesday, he said, “The Modi government is committed to the cleanliness of ‘mother’ Ganga. This incident is unexpected. The states concerned should take immediate cognisance.”
With Covid rapidly spreading through the rural parts of north India, the bodies in the river are suspected to be of Covid patients.
In absence of any Covid protocols at rural crematoriums, locals are fearful of further spread of the infection and families have been forced to consign the bodies in the river, it has been suspected.
Amid fear of locals that the contamination of water will lead to rapid spread of the disease, the local authorities have said that they are investigating the matter.
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