By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, May 5: Nearby the Pashupati Aryaghat of Bagmati River bank, there were already eight new pyres set up to cremate the COVID-19 victims on Monday while additional six were already on the pyres.
All those pyres have been prepared by the Nepali Army and they have been doing so for the past 13 months since the outbreak of the Novel Coronavirus.
This was, however, not a regular sight of the Aryaghat. As per the legal constraints and health protocols, the relatives could not come and join the funeral procession in mass presence to bid last farewell to the bodies of their dear ones.
Bodies claimed by COVID-19 are kept in a safe bag and lined up inside the electronic crematorium gate of Pashupati Aryaghat. Members of the corpse management team on the PPE sets invite the relatives after seeing the name of the deceased.
During the first wave of coronavirus, the bodies of those who died from the infection were not burnt outside the Aryaghat. Those who died in the Valley used to be cremated in the electronic crematorium or burnt in the firewood as per the wish of the relatives.
But in the second wave, three electric crematorium machines could not support it. Then the bodies were forced to be cremated on the banks of the Bagmati River for last two/three days, according to the Nepali Army.
Also, Nepali Army official said that the electronic crematorium centre has gone out of operation for the last two days and has come into operation only on Tuesday.
Brigadier General and spokesperson of Nepali Army Shantosh Ballave Poudyal said that a team of the army has been burning 15 to 20 bodies daily in Aryaghat since the beginning of the second wave of the virus.