A horrific incident of stray dogs eating way the dead body of an aged and abandoned woman has come to light at the pilgrimage centre of Deval Ganagapur in Afzalpur taluk.
Devotees visiting Dattatreya temple in Deval Ganagapur - most of them from Maharashtra - abandon aged and mentally ill members of their family on the belief that they would be cured after a few days’ stay at the temple. The practice is in vogue for several years.
More than 100 such persons are staying at the pilgrimage centre. The taluk administration on Tuesday shifted around 25 of them to old age home. For the past two decades the temple trust has been performing last rites of the dead.
Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer Dr Girish Badole, who visited Ganagapur on Tuesday, told DH that aged persons are abandoned at the temple every full moon day. He said the officials of District Senior Citizens’ Welfare Department have been directed to register cases against persons abandoning elders at the temple.
Ganagapur police station sub-inspector Raju Rathod said that it was difficult to take action in such cases as the people leave their aged relatives at the temple during night.
“We try to contact relatives if these abandoned senior citizens are able to provide their address and mobile number. Sometimes, these relatives will take them back home if they have recovered,” said Namdev Rathod, the executive officer of the temple.
The CEO directed the officials to install solar streetlights, provide drinking water and other facilities around the temple. He said the post mortem has confirmed that dogs ate the dead body.
Deputy Commissioner Yashwant Gurukar said that he has directed District Senior Citizens Welfare Department to conduct a survey in Ganagapur and shift such people to old age homes.
Published 18 October 2022, 17:10 IST