HC hears PIL for increase in cremation, burial sites in Delhi; seeks Centre, Delhi govt's response

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought responses of the Centre and the Delhi government on a PIL to temporarily increase the number of cremation and burial sites in the city in view of the "overwhelming" number of people dying due to Covid-19 daily.

A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jasmeet Singh issued a notice to the Centre, Delhi government, National Disaster Management Authority and the municipal bodies seeking their stand on the plea by a lawyer.

The court directed the authorities to consider data provided by the petitioner, Pratyush Prasanna, while filing their replies.

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In his plea filed through advocate Snigdha Singh, Prasanna has claimed that "due to an acute shortage of hospital beds and other necessities such as testing kits and oxygen supply, there have been an overwhelming number of deaths in the country, especially in the national capital region".

As a result, the cremation sites and burial grounds are also full and, therefore, a substantial amount of time was being taken to cremate the body, the plea has claimed.

"Hence, a temporary increase in the number of cremation sites, grounds, burial sites is necessitated," the petition has said.