Calls pouring in all day for cremations — most just cry

New Delhi: Even as the fourth wave upends and stretches every arm of the city's infrastructure to its limits, the mounting death toll in the Capital has now risen to a point where Delhi Police officials spend hours on the phone attending to desperate calls from residents looking for a spot to either cremate or bury their loved ones.

Some call in anticipation that they might lose a family member, others call for help to get into a crematorium that has run out of space and sees a long waiting list of bodies — most just call and cry.

"Please help us in getting space inside the crematorium for conducting last rites of our beloved ones," one of the calls to police said.

A sub-inspector rank official said he had got three to four such calls in the last few days. "It's a really sad situation and we are trying our level best to help that person. It is a very tough time," he said.

A station house officer in North Delhi said that they now receive up to 8 to 10 calls related to Covid-19 every day. "Sir, please arrange some space for us in the crematorium, this is what one caller told me. One more person, after the death of his relative, brought back the body home as the person did not know where to go. He called us. We are trying," the SHO said.

In addition to having to control "law and order situations" arising out of deaths at hospitals due to a lack of oxygen, cops in the city are now also posted in crematoriums to manage the crowds.

"Four to five people have been deployed there, sometimes people lose their patience, yes we all know they are in grief, distress. So, we handle them politely by saying that they will be able to perform the last rites of their loved ones," the official said.

Another SHO said they received numerous calls where people just call and are crying out of pain. "On the one hand, we have to console but on the other, we have to help them," the official said. In West Delhi, parking lots and any extra space inside crematoria are being used to burn bodies.

Helpless, one inspector-rank policeman said they are doing the best they can.

"My friends are doctors. Earlier, if any person needed medical help I used to tell them to visit my friend's clinic or hospitals but today the situation is not like other days. We are trying to help them," he said.

"Giving them dignity after death is all we are doing now," the inspector said.

In the last few weeks, there have been more than a dozen cases where Delhi cops have taken it upon themselves to perform the last rites of many who had been left behind by their families or could not be with their families.

Recently, in Dwarka, Delhi Police officials performed the last rites of Lieutenant Colonel Soumen Mondal's father-in-law, who passed away in the city with Mondal posted in Leh Ladakh. Chinmoy Biswal, PRO, Delhi Police said from arranging oxygen cylinders to conducting last rites they are helping people. "It has brought Delhi Police more closer to the citizens," he said.