NOIDA: From March 15 to June 5 this year, the period overlapping with the second Covid wave that pummelled Delhi-NCR in April and May, crematoriums in Gautam Budh Nagar saw a total of 4,910 funerals.
Covid protocols were followed in 3,155 of these cremations.
The official Covid toll in the NCR district, in the 15 months since the first case was reported in 2020, is 459.
Data on funerals was sourced from records maintained by crematoriums in the district.
This includes Antim Niwas in Sector 94, Mokshdham in Shafipur (Greater Noida), Dadri’s Muktidham as well as four cremation grounds in sectors 14, 135, 52 and Barola.
Besides, there are three cremation grounds in Jewar that don’t maintain category-specific (like Covid or non-Covid) records.
These three grounds registered a total of 33 deaths in April and May.
Crematoriums perform last rites with Covid protocols based on information from a deceased’s family, which is very different from the way Covid deaths are officially counted.
Still, the gap between crematorium data and the official number is a wide one.
At Antim Niwas, where two CNG furnaces are in use, a total of 2,124 cremations took place during this period – Covid protocols were followed for 1,349.
According to officials at the crematorium, 30% of the bodies cremated were of residents from other neighbouring cities.
Mahesh Saxena of Noida Lok Manch, the NGO which runs Antim Niwas, said, “Most of the Covid cremations are conducted in the CNG furnace, but at times, if the kin of the deceased insist, the cremation is carried out using wood.
We send the data to the office of the chief medical officer every day.” In Greater Noida’s Shafipur, a total of 2,119 cremations took place, nearly the same number as Antim Niwas.
This crematorium started functioning from late April when Antim Niwas became overburdened.
Here, the official tally till June 5 for cremations following Covid protocols is 1,756.
At Shafipur, Sachin Sharma, in-charge of the Mokshdham crematorium, said information on whether it’s a Covid death or not was garnered from family members of the deceased.
On April 24, as Antim Niwas started running out of space, the Noida Authority issued an order that non-Covid cremations would be done at four other cremation grounds in sectors 14, 49, 135 and 52.
These grounds saw 508 cremations over April and May.
“When as many as 60-70 bodies were being cremated every day and furnaces started becoming dysfunctional due to overuse, four other cremation grounds started taking some of the load off Antim Niwas, which then became a ground for only Covid-positive deceased,” said an Antim Niwas official.
At Dadri’s Muktidham, 126 cremations were conducted from April to June, according to Shamir Kashyap, executive officer, Dadri Nagar Palika.
Vinod Prajapati, who carries out most of the cremations, told TOI 50 of the deceased were treated as Covid-positive, based on information from the next of kin.
In Jewar’s three crematoriums, information on the 33 funerals IN April and May were submitted to the district administration, said Dinesh Shukla, executive officer of the Jewar Nagar Panchayat.
Asked about the numbers, Gautam Budh Nagar district magistrate, Suhas L Yathiraj said the number of cremations don’t equal Covid deaths.
According to Yathiraj, a reason for the high number of cremations with Covid protocols could be the policy of the administration to treat all suspect deaths as Covid related.
“While government guidelines don’t allow testing of patients after death, in suspect cases, a strict protocol of sanitisation is followed and the body is cremated as Covid-19 suspect.
This also increases the number of cremations being undertaken under Covid protocols,” said the DM.
He cited the example of patients who recover from Covid but continue to suffer from comorbid conditions.
“They may die of non-Covid reasons but may still be cremated with full protocols.
Or patients who are HRCT-positive but RT-PCR negative – in case of demise of such patients, their number is not captured on the portal but adds to the high number of cremations,” Yathiraj added.
According to him, a number of high mortality cases, both Covid and non-Covid, also come to the district because of its quality medical care.
“Hospitals here are providing tertiary-level healthcare, including kidney and liver transplant services.
A high number of sick patients, both Covid and non-Covid, come to this district from all over the country for treatment,” he said, adding this added to the mortality rate of GB Nagar.