As the COVID-19 outbreak in India swelled earlier this year, there were reports of people dumping the bodies of those who had succumbed to the disease in the river.
Kishori Pednekar's statement can be seen as a jibe at BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh where hundreds of corpses were recently found floating in Ganga river or buried in the sand of its banks.
BBC News
By Geeta Pandey
image copyrightGetty Images
image captionFuneral pyres are lit by the Ganges in Allahabad, where bodies have been washing downstream for days
India s holiest river, the Ganges, has been swollen with bodies in recent days.
Hundreds of corpses have been found floating in the river or buried in the sand of its banks. Those who live close to where they have washed up, in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, fear they are Covid-19 victims.
India has been overwhelmed by a devastating second wave of the pandemic in recent weeks. It has recorded more than 25 million cases and 275,000 deaths, but experts say the real death toll is several times higher.
COVID-19 has once again proved that the Indian civil society is willing to fill the vacuum created by the state in times of despair. Several organisations and individuals have been offering help to victims across the country.