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Thread: Furnaces and men are being pushed beyond their limits at Bengaluru’s crematoriums. I visited 3 of the 7 centres, where Covid-19 cases are cremated and in all of them, the staff were working for 16-19 hours shifts. Despite this, there were big queues of ambulances outside
Here are the ambulances waiting outside Peenya crematorium. By afternoon the centre got 21 bodies and more were on their way. Their capacity was 15 bodies per day.
Despite a relative’s relentless attempts, 24-year-old Sunitha refused to move away from the ambulance, where she has been for more than an hour looking at her mother Valliyamma’s body.
She had to wait for more than six hours before her mother's body was cremated.
She had to wait for more than six hours before her mother's body was cremated.
Inside the Summnahalli crematorium, the staff had their problems. Earlier on Wednesday, the door of one of two furnaces malfunctioned, which took a couple of hours to fix.
“Our maximum capacity is to cremate 16 bodies a day, that too if we push ourselves and the furnace. For the past few days, we have been cremating more at least 25 bodies every day," said a staff member.
“The shift starts at 7 am and because of the number of bodies, they have to work till 2 am. We are not turning any bodies back, because we know what the families are going through, but we are finding it physically difficult to keep up with the workload,” he added.
The furnace operators are contract labourers, who until last were not paid their salaries. “We get only Rs 13,000, and after cuts, we get Rs 10,000. For close to a year, we were not paid our salaries. It was only recently because they needed us, our salaries were paid"
"We can’t keep the furnace running like this. It needs to cool down for at least 7-8 hours, otherwise, it will break down. Cleaning the remains from under the furnace needs time too. We are not getting any time for this,” said a staffer at Peenya.
While the furnaces are running beyond their capacity, family members have been waiting outside the crematoriums anxiously, hoping the body of their loved ones doesn't remain in an ambulance for long.
Some performed last rites around the ambulances as family members were not allowed inside.
A supervisor at a centre, with bloodshot eyes from sleeping for just three hours, said: “We were told to close the gates once we get around 15 bodies, which is our capacity. But when people plead in front of us, we have can’t be inhumane....
... the workers have been sleeping in the crematorium itself. They haven’t met their families for days and mosquitos have made sleeping difficult as well,” he said.
Acknowledging the shortage of cremation slots, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Dr CN Ashwatha Narayana on Wednesday said that instead of just seven crematoria, all available cremation centres will be used for Covid-19 cases.
“From today onwards the final rites of those who succumb to Covid-19 will be performed in all the 13 crematoriums of the city. I have discussed the problem related to the cremation with Gaurav Gupta, Chief Commissioner of BBMP," he said.
Read the full report here. https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/others/bengaluru-crematoriums-run-overtime-while-kin-wait-101619032064127.html
