MYSURU: As the gloom descends over Mysuru with the number of deaths going up because of the intense second Covid wave, bamboo workers who prepare biers for bodies have been kept busy.
Mysuru, registering 1,144 Covid deaths over the last one year, is next only to Bengaluru, Ballari and Dakshina Kannada districts.
The steady flow of bodies at Mukthidhama crematorium in Vijayanagar Fourth Stage has made the Mysuru City Corporation place an order for around 150 bamboo biers from Guruprasad, a bamboo shop owner at Nanjumalige. Corporation workers collect 20-25 biers every alternate day. As the bodies reach the crematorium, they are placed on the bier and family members are called to perform the last rites before the bodies are put into the crematorium.
Guruprasad said they used to sell one or two biers a day earlier and worked on other craft items like wall panels and screens. But Covid has increased the bier orders manifold. He said that the situation is unprecedented and people should stay indoors to stay safe. Mysuru City Corporation Commissioner Shilpa Nag said they purchase biers from Guruprasad at Rs 250 each. The biers are being used at both gas and electric crematoriums, she added.