BHOPAL: A graveyard in Jahangirabad area of Madhya Pradesh capital Bhopal has dug not one but a dozen pits in advance to avoid over-crowding in case of arrival of multiple bodies in the coming days.
Importantly, the Jahangirabad area of the city is one of prime COVID-19 hotspots of Bhopal.
Out of the 900 positive cases of the deadly virus and 35 deaths have happened due to the killer infection so far in Bhopal out of which 225 cases and nine deaths pertain to residents of the densely populated Jahangirabad area.
Since last two-three days, the 1500-2000 people from the Jahangirabad area have been shifted out of the crowded locality to safer zones (hotel and lodges) to prevent the spread of the deadly virus further in the congested area.
The Jahangirabad area has been totally sealed and till now thousands of samples have so far been collected from the area.
The management of Jhadawallah Kabristan in Jahangirabad has got 12 graves ready in case of arrival of multiple bodies in the coming days.
According to the head of the Kabristan Committee Mohd Rehan, "the graveyard receives bodies from the state government run Hamidia Hospital and also the private Chirayu Hospital but don’t have any idea as to whether the deaths have happened due to the novel Coronavirus infection or not. The burial of these bodies has to take place quickly."
"Many times, more than one body arrive simultaneously and each body is accompanied by many people. Overcrowding at the burial ground is dangerous as per safety guidelines in the times of COVID-10,” said Mohd Rehan.
Recently six bodies arrived at the Kabristan in a single day from Hamidia and Chirayu Hospitals, after which the management committee approached the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) for JCB machines to dig the basic pits for the burial.
"Since digging each grave takes around four hours, the JCB machines were used to dig the basic pits which were then easily converted into graves by our staff. With the holy month of Ramzan underway, it's hard to find labourers, owing to which we’ve dug up the graves in advance to avoid overcrowding at the graveyard in case of multiple bodies arriving in coming days," maintained Mohd Rehan.