Agra’s Kshetra Bajaja Committee is providing dignity in death to deceased Covid-19 patients
For three years, urns containing the ashes of the unknown are preserved with the organisation before they are immersed in the Ganga at Soron, near Kasganj. Even for Covid-19 fatalities, Kshetra Bajaja retains the ashes of the dead.
The Kshetra Bajaja Committee of Agra has been known for conducting the last rites of people who lost their lives and the bodies remained unclaimed. With passing time, that role changed to performing the last rites of people who lost their lives in road mishaps and their bodies were not claimed.
Amid these pandemic-ravaged times, the organisation continues to serve the city quietly and selflessly to grant dignity to the dead.
For three years, urns containing the ashes of the unknown are preserved with the organisation before they are immersed in the Ganga at Soron, near Kasganj. Even for Covid-19 fatalities, Kshetra Bajaja retains the ashes of the dead so that if a bereaved next of kin turns up, they may be handed over the ashes of their loved one.
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Kshetra Bajaja Committee is a body active since 1885. At that time, the cloth merchants of Agra gathered together and decided that instead of doing charity on a small, personal level, the society would benefit more if a collective effort, channelled towards a single cause was made. And thus, was born the Kshetra Bajaja Committee.
Over the years, so concerted and well-directed have the efforts been that they were asked to manage the traditional crematorium, and in 1996, when the electric crematorium was built, the Agra district administration immediately handed over affairs of its functioning to the Kshetra Bajaja Committee.
Today, its members - some 700 cloth merchants of Agra - contribute to arrange for the requirements of the electric crematorium and wood for the traditional crematorium and other requirements, like the running of the five vehicles used to take bodies to the crematorium.
And it is not just the crematoriums the organisation runs but also an ayurvedic hospital in the city and is also actively involved in meeting the needs of the impoverished sick in the city’s hospitals, like providing medicines, arranging for oxygen cylinders, etc.
At the electric crematorium, there are 15 to 25 bodies cremated every day in its three furnaces. “Sometimes, the number goes up to 30 as bodies of Covid-19 patients are also brought for cremation,” said Kshetra Bajaja Committee president Sunil Vikal.
“Our members are selflessly contributing to this service despite them facing a tough time themselves in these times. In such a situation, we do expect the administration to extend a helping hand to the Kshetra Bajaja Committee in serving mankind,” Vikal added.
He said that when the lockdown was imposed, there was a restriction on vehicles which drastically brought down the number of fatalities in road mishaps and the number of unclaimed bodies coming for cremation dropped.
“We have been preserving the ashes of those unknown or unclaimed bodies which we cremated and immerse them in Ganga at Soron near Kasganj after every three years. In these times of the pandemic, family members of a deceased Covid-19 patient are in quarantine and are unable to attend the last rites or collect the ashes. We have been preserving ashes in such cases also and wait for family members to come and collect them.
“There are 50 to 60 urns of such Covid-19 cases cremated at the electric crematorium and we have saved the ashes with dignity with a condolence message wrapped around them, awaiting family members to come and collect them. Many came in the unlock phase and took the ashes, thanking the committee,” Vikal said.
“The acceptability of the electric crematorium among citizens has seen a surge in these times of the pandemic,” he said.
However, this acceptability is new-found. “In the beginning, no one was prepared to cremate their dear departed in the electric crematorium even though it saved precious trees from being felled. There were various awareness campaigns launched to make the electric crematorium acceptable among people but that acceptance was slow to come,” Vikal said.
“There was a time when only the socially aware and environmentally concerned would come to the electric crematorium but slowly and steadily, people have begun to opt for the electric crematorium without any bar of caste or economic status. That acceptability has been enhanced due to the pandemic as the cremation here at the electric crematorium is less cumbersome and manageable by a few,” he said.
“With the pandemic raging, cremations at the electric crematorium have exceeded those in traditional crematoriums as our staff extends help to the few next of kin accompanying the body while wearing personal protective equipment. Otherwise too, cremations in the electric crematorium are less cumbersome and get over faster as we have three separate furnaces operating at 800 degrees Celsius,” Vikal said.
“The number of cremations at the electric crematorium is thrice the number of traditional cremations where family members have to carry wood and prepare funeral pyre on their own. Now, only a limited number of family members accompany the dead, even if it’s a non-Covid death and thus, the utility of electric crematorium is being realised by Agra residents,” he added.
The Kshetra Bajaja Committee also working toward creating eco-awareness among Agra citizens by organising seminars and talks about the utility of an electric crematorium while listing the ecological damage in preparing for a traditional cremation. With that aim in mind, it also organises walks for school children. However, it is left to family members whether to opt for the traditional method or use the electric crematorium. The committee never contacts bereaved families but has its staff at the electric crematorium which arrives to work the furnace if a body is brought in.