Ashes Wait To Be Immersed In Madhya Pradesh Town As Lockdown Stops Funerary Rituals

Urns are piling up in a crematorium in COVID-19 hit Morena town in Madhya Pradesh as a lockdown in place to stall the outbreak has barred people from carrying out funerary rituals and immerse the ashes in nearby rivers.

Ironically, the coronavirus transmission in the city began after a man hit by coronavirus organised a "mrityu bhoj" for several hundred people on March 20, leading to ten of the attendees catching the infection over the next few days.

"The kin of at least 20 people who have died due to various reasons since the lockdown was announced have not been able to carry out post-cremation rituals. Some 10 urns containing the ashes of the deceased are kept in our lockers," a crematorium official told news agency PTI.

"Since the borders of the district are sealed due to the lockdown, people are unable to take the urns to sacred rivers close by to immerse the ashes. People mostly used to go the Ganga flowing past Seron in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh," he said.

Local resident Deepak Sharma said his mother passed away on March 27 but he was turned away by priests at Seron despite getting permission from authorities to make the journey during lockdown.

"The priests were afraid of legal repercussions. I returned with the urn containing my mother's ashes and have kept it in the locker at Badokhar crematorium," Mr  Sharma said.

The authorities have banned all kinds of functions as part of social distancing norms to fight the virus outbreak.

Morena has been under curfew since April 2 when the Dubai returnee and his wife had tested positive for coronavirus.