Chaotic 'final' passage

Grieving relatives, most donning PPE kits, anxiously wait in serpentine queues leading up to the registration desk where receipts are being issued for conducting the last rites of their kin. All the while, ambulances keep shuttling between the crematorium and hospital, with around three of them making their way inside every 15 minutes with at least three bodies lying inside them. Dozens of wood logs, all piled over each other, are kept at a corner in bulk to meet the demand created by the rising casualties even as workers keep cutting and carrying them in their trolleys to and fro the funeral pyre.

Black smoke constantly emanating out of the blazing funeral pyres as scores of dead bodies make their way into the premises — being turned in-to mere numbers on the daily Covid health bulletin rather than actual names. These are the scenes at crematoriums across the capital with the spiraling death toll due to the COVID-19 pandemic causing havoc to an already burdened medical infrastructure that has already collapsed.

Waiting for their turn!

At the Nigambodh Ghat, Delhi's largest crematorium, Millennium Post bore witness to scenes of chaos as several relatives crowded the space, waiting for several hours before their turn came up. Funeral pyres burned constantly even as ambulances kept lining up several kilometers beyond the entry point. Most of them claimed that the waiting time was unreasonable and they had been waiting since the morning to cremate their loved ones but to no avail.

Gautam, whose grandfather had died due to Covid-related complications last evening, said that he came around 8:30 in the morning and it's been more than four hours and he is still waiting for his turn to come. "Subeh se aya hua hu…kuch time nahi diya kuch pata nahi kab number aega…" (I have come here since the morning…they haven't given me a time and I don't know when my turn will come). He also claimed that there was shortage of ambulances and he found it difficult to arrange one.

Similarly, Aun Naqi, who had come to cremate his friend's mother who succumbed to Covid at the LNJP Hospital, said that the CNG incinerators take at least an hour to hour-and-a-half to cremate a body and to collect the ashes thereafter.

Standing outside the building housing the crematorium's six CNG incinerators, Sarla Anand says that her 35-year-old daughter-in-law had sudden-ly passed away in the morning though doctors had told earlier that her health had stabilized. "She had contracted Covid and thereafter suffered from pneumonia...today in the morning the doctor suddenly called us and said that she has passed away…" she said, her eyes welling up as she tried to resist herself from breaking down.

"My daughter-in-law had two young daughters who were about to get married…," a grieving Sarla added.

Wearing a PPE kit and standing at the registration desk, a woman, who preferred anonymity, was seen pleading with the staff to provide her a slot of 2 pm for cremating her 60-year-old father but has been kept waiting since she didn't pre-book her slot. "They said that they will allow me to cremate my father if the person who has booked the spot doesn't show up," the visibly exhausted lady said.

Sanjeev Kumar, who came to cremate his 78-year-old grandfather who was lying on a stretcher in front of him, said he had come around two hours back and is still waiting for his turn to come. "What will they (staff) do? There is a lot of rush now…," he said.

A majority of the relatives claimed that while the waiting time for CNG cremation was around two hours, for the wooden pyre, people were told to wait for a day till their chance arrived.

Woes of workers

Meanwhile, the workers at the crematorium too were buckling under immense pressure due to the increasing death rate. Several workers at the Nigambodh Ghat said that they have never seen such a rush in their years of service; their workload has increased fourfold.

Pappu, one of the workers at the CNG incinerator, who burnt his elbow while cremating one of the bodies, said that at least 70 to 80 bodies arrive every day and it is becoming impossible to accommodate the demand. "There is at least a two-hour wait for CNG cremation here as the incinerators are only six...the relatives jostle to cremate their kin first but they should understand that we have to go by the rules," Pappu said.

Hearse drivers Rajesh and Shivam said that they made multiple trips to the crematorium throughout the day until it closed its gates. "We transport tons of bodies from the hospital with only one ambulance consisting of three bodies...the waiting time is unreal, persons who pay a hefty amount of money can jump the queue but those who cannot have to wait for hours," Rajesh claimed.

Supervisor Avdesh Sharma admitted that he has been receiving at least 100 to 150 bodies every day, but denied that there was waiting time of any sort. "We have doubled the workers and require around 400 quintal wood on a daily basis...there is extreme pressure on us", He said.

Similar was the sight at the Old Seemapuri crematorium where former BJP MLA Jitender Singh Shunty and his organisation Shaheed Bhagat Singh Sewa Dal slog day in and day out, trying to conduct the last rites of as many Covid casualties as they can. "There were so many bodies arriving each day that I had to get the space extended to include the parking area, and now a total of around 100 pyres have been created," Shunty said.

On a visit by Millennium Post to the crematorium, it was seen that carpet of bodies laid across the floor even as the staff struggled to find space to cremate them. Pankaj, a worker, was seen supervising the bodies and directing them to a pyre as soon as one is vacant.

Shunty, who tried to quickly grab a bite before rushing inside the crematorium, said that they also have 18 ambulances that bring bodies from the hospital, those Covid patients who died under home isolation and even unclaimed bodies. "Out of the 22 workers that we have, three have contracted the virus, three are in quarantine and one is in ICU," he said.

Shunty's family too is down with Covid and he said that he hasn't gone back home for several days and spends nights inside his SUV. "During the first wave, we used to see only 12 to 13 bodies arrive…but this year it's been unstoppable…the whole system has collapsed…but our crematorium is still prepared to deal with the pressure come what may," the 59-year-old said.

Out of space

At the Lodhi Road crematorium, staffs were seen buckling under pressure, with one worker, preferring anonymity, claiming that they have to set up makeshift pyres in between the 26 that have already been set up.

Around a dozen persons gather around supervisor Pankaj as he issues receipts to them and somehow arranges space for the final rites of the bodies. "Most of the workers are down with Covid and we are lacking the requisite manpower…we receive at least 50 bodies on a regular basis here…we mostly divert them to other crematoriums," a worker claimed.

Meanwhile, a park that earlier acted as a sitting area for grieving relatives has now been turned into a crematorium with 42 pyres being built in it by the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) at the Sarai Kale Khan crematorium.

Around 100 more pyres have been constructed at a space behind the crematorium in view of the rising demand. "Bohot bura haal hai sir" (It's a very bad situation sir), Ali, a worker said. "towards the evening scores of ambulances line up till the gate…we have run out of space despite con-structing more pyres," he further added.

Staff member Aakash (25) claimed that like other crematoriums, they too have to adjust space between the pyres in order to burn the extra cas-ualties. "We bring fresh wood in bulk every day as it gets exhausted quickly…we function till 7 pm but relatives often bring bodies beyond that time so we somehow cremate them too…where will they take the body in the dead of the night?" he asked.

Amit, supervisor at the Panchkuian cremation ground, said that the number of funeral pyres there has been increased from the existing 23 to 35 now and even the manpower has been doubled. "The pressure is obviously way more than what was there in the first wave…but we are handling it well and there is less waiting time," he claimed.

Cemeteries are no better

Even as crematoriums across the capital have been fast running out of space, burial grounds or cemeteries too are not doing any better, with at least two of them refusing to bury more bodies and closing their gates to families.

At the Jadid Qabristan Ahle Islam, the capital's largest graveyard, supervisor Md Shamim said that they have largely stopped taking in any more bodies as their three-acre Covid block has been completely occupied in a span of seven days.

"Around 200 bodies have been buried here since early April out of the total of 1,300 bodies which have arrived ever since the first wave last year…it's very hard to find space now, the workers are somehow managing," Shamim said helplessly.

He said that initially they used to cater to 15 to 20 bodies which quickly escalated to around 50. "We have also written to the Delhi Waqf Board to provide us a space nearby so we can convert it into a cemetery," he added. He told this newspaper over the phone that he is still somehow man-aging to bury bodies despite the space shortage.

At the Buland Masjid crematorium at Shastri Park, Asmaan was seen involved in a verbal spat with supervisor Hasib Khan. Asmaan, who has come here to cremate his friend's brother, said that he had earlier been to the ITO cemetery where he was turned away for want of space.

"Here they are saying that they too don't have space…where should I go? The local SHO said he will make sure that the body is buried but how will they do it if they don't have space?" he asked.

"We closed our gates to casualties a week back…government should install more burial grounds as there are still plenty of crematoriums…we have even written to the higher authorities to allocate us the land nearby which lies barren but haven't heard back since," Khan rued.

Contradictions in data

Until April, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi reported a daily, publicly available, tally of COVID-19 cremations and burials taking place at the 29 cremation/burial sites maintained by the civic body. By this time, the capital was well into the throes of the second wave of COVID-19 infections, with cremation and burial grounds reporting long queues of dead bodies awaiting cremation/burial, crematoriums being overused till the metal in them started melting, ghats running out of workers and wood, the ever-increasing funeral pyres and burial sites exhausting all available space and authorities requesting access to adjacent land to bury dead bodies. However, according to the MCD data, COVID-19 burials or cremations on any of its 29 facilities did not exceed the site capacity on any day for the entirety of April.

During the first few days of May, several reports emerged saying that on-ground reality was in stark contrast to what the Municipal Corporation (and its data) had been claiming. Not long after this discrepancy was brought to light, all three municipal corporations of Delhi, with South MCD being the nodal agency for data collection and publishing, stopped publishing the daily report.

In fact, North Delhi Mayor Jai Prakash went as far as to say: "The situation in Delhi would have been much worse if the Municipal Corporation had not stepped up and handled the situation". He was referring to the management of COVID-19 beds in MCD-run hospitals and the increased capacity at crematoriums across the city. However, according to several reports, there is a waiting time of several hours at the already overwhelmed cremation/burial sites, to cremate or bury dead bodies of people who succumbed to COVID-19. The doctors at Hindu Rao hospital went on record to say that not even a single ICU bed is available for the general public currently and no admissions are being allowed unless personally vetted by the Medical Superintendent.

On April 29, for example, the Municipal Corporation reported that Nigambodh Ghat, one of the largest and busiest COVID-19 cremation facilities in the city, recorded 107 cremations against its dedicated capacity of 155. However, citizens said that they had to pre-register, wait for several hours, and ultimately fight for a funeral spot. The Seemapuri cremation ground data recorded 43 cremations against a maximum capacity of 36. But that hardly explains why an excess of half a dozen funeral pyres resulted in Seemapuri crematorium to expand into its parking lot to accommodate the sheer volume of dead bodies headed to the funeral pyre. For the same day, the ITO burial ground reported 11 burials, which hardly explains why the kabristan authorities requested the government to allot an adjacent plot of land for COVID-19 burials since it was running out of space and the dead bodies kept piling.

According to the Delhi government's health bulletin, 395 COVID-19 casualties were recorded on April 29, and since then, the daily number of COVID-19 related deaths has not crossed the 450-mark per day. However, on the same day, 717 cremations and burials were recorded as per MCD data. Some of its own moves also betray the MCD's under-reporting of data. The Municipal Corporation recently expanded its cremation sites, with the North MCD Mayor saying that five new sites have been constructed in the last 10 days alone since "deaths have gone up only in the last 10-12 days". These cremation sites are in Mangolpuri, Paschim Vihar, Yamuna Ghat, Sarai Kale Khan and Inderpuri, while sites at Panchkuian, Wazirpur and Nigambodh Ghat have been expanded.

Demand for more resources

The MCDs have also asked for an increase in the quantity of wood supplied to them and the number of hearse vans and ambulances. Speaking about the Municipal Corporation's demand for wood, ambulances and hearse vans from the Delhi Government, Jai Prakash said that no funds for the same have been released yet, but the requirement has definitely gone up. "They told us to hire hearse vans for the time being and our expenses will be reimbursed. But currently, hearse vans are required because it is the only way to carry the bodies of people dying at home to cremation or burial sites. Those who die at hospitals are still being transported in ambulances". North MCD is trying to procure wood from NHAI (National High-way Authority of India), UP Forest Department, dry trees from MCD parks and loga made of gobar and parali as well. As for South MCD, Mayor Anamika Mithilesh Singh said, "South MCD has enough firewood, about 10,000 quintals for cremations, so we don't have a shortage. To cremate one dead body, one needs about four quintal wood and we are receiving approximately 300 dead bodies a day". Likewise, we have a sufficient number of ambulance and hearse carts, she added.

Views expressed are personal