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Ludhiana’s crematorium lockers filling up with unclaimed ashes of Covid victims
There are 11 crematoriums across the district, with the one near Dholewal Military Complex dedicated exclusively for Covid victims.
The unprecedented number of Covid deaths in May has not only stretched the district’s crematoriums, but also left their lockers filled with ashes of the victims, many never to be collected.
As per government data, May accounts for 46% (345) of the 757 Covid deaths confirmed since January this year – an average of 21 deaths each day.
There are 11 crematoriums across the district, with the one near Dholewal Military Complex dedicated exclusively for Covid victims.
Carrying out cremations for almost 12 hours a day, the caretakers here say a body has been coming in every hour ever since the Covid deaths started peaking in the latter half of April.
The gas crematorium is able to carry out up to 20 cremations a day, they said, but the ashes are often left uncollected by the family members.
To make the area available for the next rites, caretakers store the abandoned remains in lockers, until the family members return to collect them, but the wait has been growing longer.
Veena Goyal, 62, and Parmod Goyal, 66, of the same Shivaji Nagar family, who lost their lives to Covid on May 8 and 11, respectively, were given the final farewell at this crematorium, but their ashes remain stacked in one of the lockers a week later.
A resident of Gurpal Nagar Street No 3, Dharmpal, 60, also suffered two tragedies in the past 10 days.
First his 85-year-old mother, Gurpal Kaur, died of the virus on May 4, and then his wife, Rajesh Rani, 58, too lost her life to the contagion on May 13.
For 10 days, the remains of his mother remained in the locker at the crematorium, as he tended to his wife at a hospital.
“After I lost my mother, I felt, with my wife’s support I will pull through the grief and we will immerse the remains of my mother together. However, fate had some other plans,” said the distraught widower.
As the ashes continued to pile up, they increased the number of lockers from 30 to 59, but amid the stream of Covid deaths in May, these, too, were quickly filling up, said Pankaj Sharma, a priest here.
Panic, Covid fatigue to be blamed
Ranjodh Singh, president of Ramgarhia Educational Trust, that manages the crematorium, attributed the delay in collecting ashes to multiple causes.
“For one, in several cases, even the family members of the deceased are infected and have to remain in isolation. Others may get stuck in the rigmarole of arranging an NOC and Covid negative report to be available for the cremation, which may take a long time due to the rush at testing centres,” said Ranjodh, also a city-based industrialist.
“One can hardly blame the bereaved families, who run from pillar to post arranging beds and treatment for their loved ones, only to see them losing the battle to the virus. Even before they can tide over the shock, they are pushed into rituals and formalities of cremation, leaving them completely fatigued,” he added.
According to a volunteer, who is part of the team conducting last rites of unclaimed bodies at the crematorium, the number of people abandoning their deceased kin for fear of contracting the virus has also been increasing with the rise in deaths, which also left ashes piling up.
Those not collected for weeks on end are eventually immersed in water bodies on behalf of the families. Recently, municipal corporation secretary Jasdev Singh Sekhon cremated some of such unclaimed bodies and helped immerse the ashes at Gurdwara Katana Sahib.
“We remind relatives in attendance to collect the remains within four hours after the last rites to allow the other cremations to continue without a hitch. Yet some fail to comply, so the ashes are placed in the lockers,” said Sharma, who has also been spending the night at the crematorium, with the pyres sometimes burning into the evening.
