From co-ordinating cremation of Covid bodies to attending routine work at Subarnarekha burning ghat in Bhuinyandih, C. Ganesh Rao remains engrossed in a challenging yet risky job.

The 68-year-old joint secretary of the ghat managing committee has taken on the cudgels at a time when the load of cremation, including Covid bodies, at the ghat is heavy by putting his own life at risk.

Rao, who lives with his family at city’s Sitaramdera locality, remains precariously close to Covid bodies till it is put inside the electric furnace for the last rites. The fact that he remains sans face mask, PPE and hand gloves highlights the risk he takes.

“Ya Corona marega ya mein marunga. Mujhe pata nahin. Mai apna kaam karta rahta hun (I don't know if Corona will get killed or I’ll die. I will continue with my job),” Rao, a former Bank of India employee, told The Telegraph Online.

Last year, the sexagenarian, with help of Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee (JNAC) workers, carried two Covid bodies for cremation when people of nearby locality headed by JMM leader and former minister Dulal Bhuiyan created a ruckus while protesting their funerals.

“I was informed by the district administration that two Covid bodies will be cremated at the ghat on July 4 last year. But the bodies could be cremated that evening as locals gathered outside the ghat and resorted to stone-pelting. The bodies were finally cremated early morning the following day (July 5) after the police controlled the situation. JNAC workers and I carried the bodies for cremation. Barring myself, others wore protective gears,” Rao recalled.

After some days, Rao mobilised the staff to cremate Covid bodies. “Nobody in the ghat was willing to cremate Covid bodies after the ruckus. I somehow managed to instill confidence in them and mobilised them to work,” Rao recounted.

According to him, his involvement in a risky job has made his personal life hell. “My wife (C. Janki Bai) and son (C. Sandeep) always protest and tell me not to go to the ghat in this difficult situation and risky times. Once my son came to the ghat and forcibly tried to take me home. But I refused to move an inch since I had a responsibility to fulfill,” Rao said.

Rao’s other son C. Avinash is settled in the US while his lone daughter Harshika is married and lives in Nagpur. They too protest his work.

He argued that he personally doesn't believe there is any Covid virus as such. “If there was a virus then why is it not transmitted to poor people living on the streets. And why I and other people working with me at the ghat are not infected till now,” Rao argued.

Rao said that Covid has tattered relationships between people. “People have become so afraid of the virus that they forget the dead in a hurry. But I think it is not humane,” he said.

He informed that around 1,800 Covid bodies have been cremated at the Subarnarekha burning ghat since last year “Twenty-three Covid bodies were cremated on Monday. Around 50 bodies, including Covid ones, used to come for daily cremation earlier. However, the volume of bodies has now come down to about 40,” Rao signed off.