MAHESH TRIVEDI
AHMEDABAD, APR 15
It is for the first time Parsi community in India is cremating its dead rather than consigning the dead to “dakhmas”, a funerary tower where the dead bodies are kept in an open-to-sky well and left for vultures to feed on them under their ancient system.
Thanks to Covid-19 under which the Gujarat government has prevented the disposal of the bodies through “dakhmas” and instead, ordered their cremation to prevent spread of the corona virus. The community has just to watch the bodies of their dear ones being slowly reduced to ashes at crematoria as per the guidelines laid down by the government.
Surat, the second worst city affected by the pandemic with 972 deaths so far and some 20 patients succumbing to the killer disease daily, is home to 3,000 Parsis. In the past one month, at least bodies of 40 Parsis have been cremated much against their wishes and, as is the rule, the bodies are not handed to relatives but sent for cremation.
For about 1,000 years, the Zorastrian Parsis have been following the system of ‘sky’ burials: Bodies are placed in large open-air consecrated wells where they are desiccated under the harsh rays of the sun and eaten by birds of prey.
“Even during the plague endemic, we were not denied our traditional funeral rites”, laments Ahmedabad teacher Bakhtwar Dalal.
With 73 deaths and 7,410 new infections in Gujarat in one single day on Wednesday, the killer coronavirus is not only snuffing out lives at the drop of a hat but also depriving the bereaved families their fundamental right to give a decent funeral to their departed relatives.
Despite the state government making frantic efforts to control the frightening and worsening situation arising out of the coronavirus disease (covid), Gujarat has registered some 5,000 deaths in the past one year and has been witnessing an increase of 1,000 more infection cases day after day.
Acute shortage of oxygen, vaccines, ambulances, blood, blood plasma, hospital beds, medical personnel and even crematoria has taken a toll on the life of patients’ relatives who have to go from pillar to post throughout the day and night to save the lives of their dear ones.
Long, serpentine queues at every crematorium in the state’s four major cities of Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot and Vadodara have given the lie to the death figures declared by the Vijay Rupani government every day. Inquiries with crematoria and hospitals reveal a three times bigger death roll and also that there has been a 17 per cent increase in the number of deaths among the people aged below 45 years who also now account for 15 per cent of the total deaths.
Due to shortage of ambulances, hospital beds and funeral pyres at crematoria, sick patients or their bodies being carried in handcart and mini-trucks, ambulances with serious patients waiting for hours on end outside hospitals and bodies being burnt in open grounds are common sights in the cities.
No wonder, the Gujarat High Court had to initiate a suo motu PIL over the coronavirus situation in the state, observing that media reports on the pandemic indicated that the state was heading towards a “health emergency of sorts”. The court refused to accept the government’s submission that “things are under control in the state.”
On its part, the Rupani regime has claimed that it has arranged more than 18,000 beds during the last 15 days to ensure that no patient is left without proper treatment. The government has also set up a 900-bed full facility dedicated Covid care hospital with 150 ICU beds.
The state administration has launched a full-day control room to supply oxygen and ordered private hospitals to provide 20 per cent of their beds for covid patients.
In a major relief, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has started a drive-through RT-PCR test at a massive ground in the city. The collection centre will reduce the number of people queuing at private laboratories for tests.
But despite measures like even night curfew in 20 cities, the covid situation is turning grimmer by the day.
(Mahesh Trivedi, India Tomorrow Correspondent based at Ahmedabad).
