Most pyres burnt unattended except the odd one or two, being videographed by PPE-clad men capturing the last rites of their kin to later share the moment with the rest of their bereaved family back home, a priest shouting instructions from afar.
On the other side, smoke billowing non-stop from a chimney pipe towering above the sole CNG cremation station as a hearse carrying the body of another COVID patient pulls to a stop outside it followed by the arrival of another being carried on a byre resting on two pairs of family members’ shoulders.
‘Antim Niwas’, the only facility reserved for cremation of COVID-19 patients from the district located in Noida’s Sector 94, was less crowded on Saturday compared to the same day the previous week.
Last Saturday, even non-COVID bodies were brought to it like usual by families unaware of government orders designating it as a COVID-only facility. The same sense of dread, despair and distress, however, was palpable despite the comparative dip in footfall.
‘No one is safe’
“Was it this platform or that one where Vimla aunty was cremated,” Dharmendra Sukhija [name changed on request], who had visited the crematorium earlier this week for the last rites of his aunt, asked his son pointing at two adjacent funeral platforms one after the other.
“This pandemic has proved to be precisely that — no one is safe. Earlier this week, we came here for my aunt’s funeral; today we have performed the last rites of her elder sister, my mother. Both of them got infected around the same time a few weeks ago, passed away and were cremated near each other,” Mr. Sukhija said.
The facility, where another CNG cremation station to deal with the rush of COVID victims which continues unabated is being constructed, now allows families to book time slots for cremation in advance, a priest engaged at it said. The new station is expected to be operational over the next 10 to 12 days, he added.
Process streamlined
“There are lesser bodies this week because only COVID victims are allowed and the process has been streamlined; but that doesn’t mean we aren’t working as hard. Cremations are still beginning early morning and last till well beyond dusk,” the priest, who asked not to be named since he is not authorised to speak to the media, said.
The Gautam Buddha Nagar district, till 3 p.m. this Saturday, had recorded a total number of 225 deaths due to COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic; till 3 p.m. last Saturday, the total death toll stood at 143.
“I have been spending more time here assisting with cremations over the last few weeks than I ever did in the past. Just look at the number of discarded PPE kits around,” said Raj Bahadur, from Pilibhit, who works at a prominent food chain during the week and at the crematorium on the weekends to earn a little more.
Dustbins placed all around the facility were overflowing with PPE kits which are mandatory for those performing the last rites of COVID patients bearing testimony to the sheer number of cremations taking place at it.
“On some days I end up staying here so late that I can’t reach my real job on time. Thankfully the three day lockdown has been imposed which will let me give more time here,” he said.
