SAMBALPUR: With the ferocious second wave, COVID has brought back the fears and indescribable stigma. The family members of an elderly person who lost his life to Covid-19 on Wednesday experienced the pain and trauma as they had to wait for over 20 hours to conduct the final rites in Bargarh district.
Fearing for the virus, none from their neighbourhood came forward to help the family with the last rites till members of two social organisations intervened.
Satyananda Sahu, a 60-year-old man and his 36-year-old son Jugal Kishore of Ghanamaal village under Padampur block, tested positive for Covid-19 on April 16. While Satyananda was put in home isolation, Jugal’s condition deteriorated and was rushed to VIMSAR at Burla. Satyananda’s paralysed wife and daughter too were quarantined. However, Jugal died at VIMSAR on April 17 and was cremated at the Rajghat in Sambalpur on the same day.
A second tragedy befell the family when Satyananda died on Wednesday in his home. His helpless daughter found no way to cremate the body in the absence of a male family member. Though the villagers came to know about the death, none came near the house fearing Covid infection. Although some villagers informed officials of the Health department and BDO for cremation, no one turned up till 6.30 pm on Wednesday. A villager then contacted members of a Bargarh-based social organisation Sankalpa Parivar, following which its members and Paschim Odisha Yuba Mancha went to the village to cremate the body.
Bikash Agrawal, a member of Sankalpa Parivar, said, he contacted the Padampur Sub-Collector for a hearse van to take the body from the house for cremation. But since the Sub-Collector was under quarantine, he asked him to contact the BDO. But the BDO too could not arrange the hearse van. “Later, the CDMO of Bargarh helped by sending a hearse van from Bargarh and the vehicle reached at 1 am. We arranged PPE kits and gloves from the nearby Jamla Hospital and took the body to a desolate place where the mortal remains were cremated in the wee hours of Thursday”, Agarwal said.