New Delhi: Authorities in northern India said they have installed a net across the Ganges river after the bodies of dozens of suspected COVID-19 victims washed up.
The discovery of 71 corpses in Bihar state stoked fears that the virus was raging unseen in India s vast rural hinterland where two-thirds of its people live.
Locals suggested to AFP that relatives immersed the bodies in the river because they could not afford wood for traditional Hindu cremations or because crematoriums were overwhelmed by the number of funerals.
Bihar s water resources minister Sanjay Kumar said on Twitter on Wednesday that a net has been placed in the river on the state border with Uttar Pradesh and patrolling increased.
After Bihar s Buxar, bodies found floating in Ganga in UP s Ghazipur
Day after dozens of bodies, bloated and in various stages of decay, washed up on Monday on the banks of the Ganga in Chausa block of Bihar’s Buxar district, similar sightings were reported on the banks of the river in Ghazipur district of Uttar Pradesh.
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Few unidentified bodies found floating in river Ganga in Ghazipur, UP (Photo: ANI)
Day after dozens of bodies, bloated and in various stages of decay, washed up on Monday on the banks of the Ganga in Chausa block of Bihar’s Buxar district, similar sightings were reported on the banks of the river in Ghazipu district of Uttar Pradesh.
Express News Service
PATNA: Dozens of bodies, in various stages of decay, of suspected Covid-19 victims were spotted in the Ganges at Chausa block of Bihar’s Buxar district on Monday morning, sparking a scare.
While the locals said such sights were frequent ever since officials started dumping bodies into the river after running out of firewood at the crematoriums, authorities claimed they had flowed into the state from upstream Uttar Pradesh, where similar sightings at a border village in Ghazipur district were reported.
However, there was no clear word on the origin of the bodies. After the bodies were retrieved, Buxar DM Aman Samir ordered an inquest.
Covid-19: PM says inquiry this Parliament, and the officers fined for lockdown breaches
Published
1. PM promises Covid inquiry within this Parliament
Boris Johnson has said there will be a public inquiry into the government s handling of the Covid pandemic in the current parliamentary session. The prime minister told MPs he had already made it clear that an inquiry was essential . He was responding to a question from Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey on behalf of bereaved families . Mr Johnson had previously said only that an inquiry would happen in future. A session of Parliament is typically a year, but can be longer.