No data on dead bodies dumped in Ganga due to COVID: Union government

Union government on Monday told Parliament that there is no information regarding the number of COVID-19 related dead bodies estimated to have been dumped in the river Ganga.

MoS Jal Shakti Bishweswar Tudu was speaking in Rajya Sabha in a written reply to Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’ Brien’s question on the number of COVID-19 related bodies claimed to have been dumped in the Ganga river and measures taken to retrieve them as per protocols.

“The incidents of unclaimed/ unidentified, burnt or partially burnt bodies, found floating in the river or on the grounds, in the shallow depth, on the banks of the river Ganga was reported from certain districts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in the media,” ANI quotes minister Tudu as saying.

Hundreds of bodies of people believed to have died from COVID-19 had been found floating in the river or buried in the sand of its banks during the second wave of COVID-19.

The Union minister further informed that the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), Ministry of Jal Shakti (MOJS), had sought reports from the concerned state governments on the bodies found floating and action taken or contemplated for ensuring their proper handling, management, and disposal by the State authorities for ensuring the protection of the river Ganga.

“Advisories were also issued by Director General, NMCG addressed to Chief Secretaries of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal and all District Ganga Committees followed by advisories from Secretary, Department Of Water Resources DoWR, RD & GR, Ministry of Jal Shakti to Chief Secretaries of all States/Administrators of all UTs for ensuring proper handling, management and disposal of bodies by the State authorities following COVID -19 protocol and ensuring the protection of the river Ganga,” the minister added.

Local officials said that decomposition makes it difficult to determine whether they died of the coronavirus. The horror first came to light on 10 May 2021 in Uttar Pradesh when 71 corpses washed up on the riverbank in Bihar’s Chausa village, near the state border. The frightening visuals sparked shock among the locals as well as on social media.

Media reports said the number of corpses was more than 2000.

The abandoned corpses discovered near the Ganges in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar states had raised serious questions about the accuracy of official COVID-19 data.