The Union government on Monday said it does not have information on the number of bodies found floating on the Ganga during the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic last year.
The information was shared by Union minister of state (MoS) for Jal Shakti Bishweswar Tudu in response to a question posed by Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Derek O’Brien in the Rajya Sabha. The TMC leader sought to know the number of Covid-19 related dead bodies estimated to have been dumped in the Ganga.
“The information regarding the number of Covid-19 related dead bodies estimated to have been dumped in the river Ganga is not available,” Tudu said in a written reply.
Incidents of unclaimed/unidentified and burnt or partially burnt dead bodies found floating on the river or on grounds, in the shallow depth, on the banks of the Ganga, were reported by media from certain districts in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, he added.
He further said that the ministry sought reports from concerned state governments on the dead bodies found floating and action taken or contemplated for ensuring proper handling, management and disposal of dead bodies by the state authorities for ensuring the protection of the Ganga.
{{/usCountry}}He further said that the ministry sought reports from concerned state governments on the dead bodies found floating and action taken or contemplated for ensuring proper handling, management and disposal of dead bodies by the state authorities for ensuring the protection of the Ganga.
{{/usCountry}}Advisories were also issued to the chief secretaries of Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Bengal, he said.
During the months of May and June last year, when the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic was at its peak in the country, dead bodies floating down the Ganga in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar had made headlines all across the world. Hundreds of dead bodies were being washed along the banks of the river, sparking a massive political row.
Union minister of Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat had termed the whole episode “unfortunate” and asked the states concerned to take immediate cognizance.
The Congress, meanwhile, attacked the Centre over the response in the Upper House of Parliament, with party spokesperson Pawan Khera calling the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government shameless. “This shameless government refuses to see what the world saw with shock and sorrow. The least we expected Modi government to do was to at least give dignity to the victims after death. Something that you couldn’t give when they were alive and struggling to stay alive,” he said.