At a time when the battle against Covid-19 has gained multiple dimensions, a Mumbai-based group is showing the way how to handle bodies in burial grounds.
The Juma Masjid Trust Bombay has trained workers and volunteers in 180 to 200 cemeteries in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).
The seven-member trust comprises president Shoaib Khatib, a former journalist Iqbal Mamdani, a builder-developer Sabir Nirban and four advocates Irfan Shaikh, Sohail Saz, Salim Parekh and Rafiq Soratia.
They have so far helped in the burial of 400 to 450 plus bodies of Muslim Covid-19 victims and cremation of 250 bodies of Hindus.
"There are a lot of apprehensions, risks. We have to tell them the dos and don'ts," Mamdani told DH.
In the financial capital of Mumbai, in seven burial grounds, bodies of Covid-19 patients are laid to rest.
According to him, cremation of Muslim bodies first involves digging the pit. "While in normal circumstances the pit is around 4 to 4.5 feet, in case of Covid-19 bodies it is 10 feet," he said.
"The next important thing is how to lower the bodies, how ropes are to be used," he said, adding that they also tell the workers and volunteers how to sanitise themselves.
As regards training, first all the 62 cemeteries in Mumbai were covered. As of now, cremation of Covid-19 bodies is in seven of them - the biggest being the Bada Kabrastan at Marine Lines.
The group later trained workers and volunteers in Palghar, Thane and Raigad districts.