Dumping of half-burnt bodies pollute marine lives in Ganges

Hajipur, Jan 15 (UNI) Tremendous health hazard is staring into the face of a large marine population following the dumping of several half-burnt human bodies in the Ganges and the Gandak everyday.

The issue first came to light a few months ago following the recovery of several half-burnt bodies from the Gandak two days after they were thrown into the river following the incident of mass lynching of ten dalits at Dhelpurwa-Rajapakar area near Hajipur in Vaishali district of south Bihar.

Describing the dumping of human bodies and animal carcasses in the river as a ''common phenomenon'' in rural Bihar, the local people attributed the reason to lack of public crematorium in several districts.

The reason for throwing the lynched bodies into the Gandak was because of the closure of the public crematorium in Hajipur for the past six years, official sources on condition of anonymity pointed out.

As a result of such inhuman act, it was not only the river, which was being polluted to a large extent, but the precious marine lives were mostly affected causing serious concern to all, including the social activists and environmental groups.

Claiming that at least ten to 15 half-burnt bodies were being dumped in both rivers everyday from various crematorium, situated along the two rivers, official sources said no action had been taken against them.

''Unless immediate action is initiated by the local authorities as well as the state government, the entire situation would go out of control,'' the sources said and apprehended that as a result of such unabated dumping of human bodies and animal carcasses both rivers would soon be polluted beyond repair and might lead to an environmental disaster soon.

Incidentally, both Centre and the state government had recently announced separate schemes worth several crores of rupees to clean all the major rivers and keep their marine life free from any pollution.

But till now the project seemed to be true only on paper as nothing worthwhile had so far been done to improve the situation in a comprehensive manner like the reopening of the public crematorium at Hajipur.

UNI RH-ABA SJC NC RAI1846