'Shoulders for sale' as Covid-19 ravages villages in Uttar Pradesh, more bodies found floating in rivers

Locals said there are many, who used to work as petty labourers and are now jobless, are ready to "lend their shoulders" for money

Lending shoulders to carry the dead on their last journey has traditionally been considered to be 'punya' (virtue) in the Indian culture and those who accompany the body are seen taking turns.

Covid-19 has, however, shattered every tradition and exposed the hypocrisy surrounding the moral standards as is evident on cremation ghats along the banks of the Ganga in the ancient city of Varanasi.

At a time when close relatives and even family members hesitate in accompanying those dying from Covid-19 on their last journey, people are forced to cough up astronomical amounts to carry the bier to the place where the body is to be cremated.

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''It (the bank) is hardly 10-15 stairs down, but we had to pay Rs 4,000 to carry the bier,'' said a youth, who was the only person to have accompanied the body of his father, who had died from Covid-19. ''I managed to bring the body till the end of the road... from here, it's all the way down....I cannot do this alone,'' the youth, who refused to identify himself, said.

Locals said there are many, who used to work as petty labourers and are now jobless, who are ready to lend their shoulders for money.

''These labourers earn substantial amounts... it is risky though... I had never seen that... in earlier times, many people volunteered to carry the dead,'' said Jai Shankar Nishad, a resident of Dashashwamedh area in Varanasi.

He said the cremation ghats in Varanasi were simply overwhelmed by the sheer number of bodies.

Also Read | Shallow graves and bodies in the river: Covid-19 hits India's villages

Meanwhile, after the Ganga, bodies were found floating in the Yamuna river in Auraiya and Hamirpur districts in Uttar Pradesh. A few bodies were also found floating in the Ramganga river in Bareilly and Gomti river.

According to reports, many bodies that had been buried in four-five deep pits in the sands on the banks of the Ganga in Kanpur and Unnao, became visible following a rise in water levels.

It was a horrific scene as corpses were at the mercy of strays. The UP government said stern action would be taken against those found dumping bodies in rivers.