Cremation of bodies affected in flood-hit Lucknow

Lucknow, Aug 25 : Reeling under floods caused by heavy monsoon rains, residents in flood-hit Lucknow are finding it difficult even to perform the last rites of their dead relations and cremate their bodies.

Sneh Kumar Saxena, who had come to 'Baikunth Dhaam' cremation ground to cremate his deceased mother's body, said that it was a pitiable situation that he had a lot of difficulty in finding an elevated place for cremation.

"When I came here, I could not decide what to do and it was a trying situation. My mother has expired, I came here to perform the last rites, but when I saw this flooding, I thought I should find out another place, but then realized that floodwaters would be everywhere. The government needs to look into this," said Saxena.

Many at the cremation grounds said that the cremation grounds are built at low lying areas and the paths leading to them have steps and are made of bricks, and stones and all these are submerged in water. And when one walks on the submerged path bare footed, they suffer injuries.

"I had to get the logs to the platform. It was so difficult to reach the platform carrying the logs in knee deep waters," said Ajit Kumar Shashtri, another person at the cremation ground.

Many parts of the state are facing the fury of floods and most of the rivers in the region are flowing above danger mark.

ANI