Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar is now at loggerheads with the West Bengal state government over the burial of 14 bodies brought in a Kolkata Municipal Corporation vehicle at Boral Mahashamshanghat in Goriya, South Kolkata, on Wednesday. The governor said in a tweet on Saturday that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee should apologize to the society for the incident.
The governor said the incident that took place at the funeral of 14 bodies was inhumane, insensitive and heartless. Funerals should be conducted with respect and dignity according to the customs of the society. That did not happen.
The governor also said that he had invited Firhad Hakim, the chief administrator and former mayor of the Calcutta Corporation, for information. But Firhad Hakim did not come. The governor spoke to the corporation’s city commissioner Binod Kumar. From there, the governor gave details of the manner in which the 14 bodies were taken to the crematorium. The way the corpses are pulled down with iron hooks is barbaric and indecent.
Shortly afterward, a letter from the state government’s home department said yesterday that Corona had nothing to do with the body. The bodies were unclaimed.
The letter states, ‘There is a custom of honoring the dead. The West Bengal government is respectful about this. In the case of COVID, transparency is maintained with the information. The state government has also made arrangements so that the relatives of the deceased in COVID-19 can pay their last respects to the deceased. Adequate transparency is also observed in the matter of burial of dead bodies. The funeral was conducted with respect to the deceased.
আঁকশি দিয়ে টেনে হিঁচড়ে মানুষের দেহ নিয়ে যাওয়ার ভয়াবহ, অকল্পনীয় দৃশ্য বহুদিন অমলিন থাকবে। @MamataOfficial এর প্রকাশ্যে ক্ষমা চাওয়া উচিৎ। এই বর্বরতার কলঙ্ক মোছা মুশকিল। মৃতদেহ সৎকার একটি পবিত্র কর্ম।(1/3) — Governor West Bengal Jagdeep Dhankhar (@jdhankhar1) June 14, 2020
আঁকশি দিয়ে টেনে হিঁচড়ে মানুষের দেহ নিয়ে যাওয়ার ভয়াবহ, অকল্পনীয় দৃশ্য বহুদিন অমলিন থাকবে। @MamataOfficial এর প্রকাশ্যে ক্ষমা চাওয়া উচিৎ। এই বর্বরতার কলঙ্ক মোছা মুশকিল। মৃতদেহ সৎকার একটি পবিত্র কর্ম।(1/3)
— Governor West Bengal Jagdeep Dhankhar (@jdhankhar1) June 14, 2020
On Wednesday, the Calcutta Corporation took 14 bodies in an especially stopped vehicle to the crematorium in South Kolkata for burial. The corpses were much mutilated. It is unloaded from a special vehicle in an inhumane way, with a hook or a large pinch or an iron hook.
Locals suspect that so many bodies were brought. They tend to think that these are probably corpses infected with corona. As a result, the locals objected to burying the body in the crematorium. Locals also showed protests. The local municipal councilor came to the spot at that time. He also objected. The bodies were taken back to the morgue of NRS Medical College Hospital in Kolkata.
After the incident was reported on social media, Firhad Hakim, chief administrator of the Calcutta Corporation and West Bengal’s minister for municipal and urban development, said the bodies belonged to unidentified persons. After keeping it in the morgue for 45 days as per the rules, an initiative was taken to burn it. But what happened at Goriya crematorium is unfortunate.
