Jalandhar mortuary: Where the dead rest next to a dump

With authorities at Shaheed Babu Labh Singh Civil Hospital in Jalandhar having failed to make arrangements to lift garbage after a private company ended its contract in May, the mortuary has become a spot for dumping garbage.

With authorities at Shaheed Babu Labh Singh Civil Hospital in Jalandhar having failed to make arrangements to lift garbage after a private company ended its contract in May, the mortuary has become a spot for dumping garbage.

Right outside the mortuary at Babu Labh Singh Civil Hospital, Jalandhar, there is a garbage dump. (Pardeep Pandit/HT Photo)

On an average, it gets five bodies a day, and eight of the freezers remain booked at most times. The building is located at the rear side of the hospital, and windowpanes are broken. The area around the mortuary has turned a parking lot for people coming to markets on Old GT Road. This resulted in a hearse van getting stuck here for an hour due to haphazard parking. A representative of a local NGO, on the condition of anonymity, said he had been volunteering at the hospital for 20 years, and unidentified bodies were kept in a negligent manner: “Sometimes, we have to supply ice slabs.”

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Medical superintendent Veena Pal said that when the waste-management company was engaged, there was no problem of garbage. “However, I have talked to the municipal corporation to lift the waste from there.”