Uttar Pradesh: Ashes pile up at cremation ground in Bareilly

The surge in COVID-19 infections has overwhelmed hospitals, morgues and crematoriums, leaving families scrambling to look for space to cremate their loved ones. Apart from this, the fear of COVID-19 is such that relatives of the deceased persons are not even turning up to collect ashes at the cremation ground in Bareilly.

Bareilly: As COVID-19 cases surge in Uttar Pradesh, crematoriums and burial grounds in Bareilly district have been flooded with bodies piling up every day with rising deaths in the state.

As per reports, the fear of COVID-19 is such that relatives of the deceased persons are not even turning up to collect ashes to be immersed later.

The officials said that the cremation ground in Bareilly had a capacity of cremating 35 bodies per day.

Speaking to ETV Bharat, a caretaker of Bareilly crematorium said that earlier the number of dead bodies coming here used to be very less but for the last one month it has increased many times.

"The last rites of about 600 bodies were performed in the month of April itself, whereas, in general, the number used to be not more than 200 to 250 in a month," he added.

Meanwhile, the priest of the cremation ground said that the ashes of about 60 bodies are lying here as relatives of many deceased do not come to collect them.

He said, "Mentioning names and addresses, I put ashes in different pots and tie them with a piece of cloth so that even if someone's family comes late to collect then they do not have to suffer."

The Uttar Pradesh government extended its weekend lockdown further till Thursday 7 am in the wake of rising COVID-19 cases in several districts of the state.