Residents of Ghagra locality have asked district and civic authorities to limit the number of open cremations of Covid victims citing risk of infection and asked them to set up at least at least two electric crematoriums in Ranchi.

Dheeraj Kumar, the treasurer of the Advocates’ Association of Jharkhand High Court, said in a letter to the deputy commissioner and municipal commissioner on Wednesday that at least 50,000 residents were living in the Ghagra locality of Namkum and were being impacted by the daily cremations.

“Due to excessive burning of bodies of Covid patients in the Ghagra cremation site, the rate of infection has increased in the locality and a lot and people have started dying due to Covid,” he claimed in the letter, a copy of which has also been sent to chief minister Hemant Soren.

In the letter, Kumar accused Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) staff and people attending the last rites of throwing medical waste in the open,thereby risking the wellbeing of local residents.

The Ranchi district administration fixed Ghagra site in Namkum for cremation of Covid victims after the electric crematorium at Harmu Mukti Dham broke down due to overuse. On an average, at least 60 bodies of Covid victims are cremated every day at Ghagra as the pandemic has wreaked havoc in Ranchi, leading to an unprecedented rise in cases and casualties.

Kumar's letter addressed to senior officials on Wednesday is the first complaint against open cremation of bodies of Covid victims in Ranchi. Kumar has asked the administration to look for a location away from human habitation to cremate bodies of Covid patients.

“Shift the place of cremation, otherwise there is danger to the Namkum bridge due to continuous exposure to heat and fire,” the letter stated. “The burning of bodies during night should also be stopped, and there should be a proper mechanism in place to ensure that all the medical waste is disposed of safely and away from the human population,” it further stated.

In the past one week, Ranchi has reported at least 306 Covid fatalities and almost all these bodies were cremated at the Ghagra site. Despite fewer casualties reported during the first wave of the pandemic last year, many Ranchi residents had protested against cremation of Covid victims close to their localities, fearing transmission of virus.

Earlier this month, the health department directed deputy commissioners of all the 24 districts of Jharkhand to ensure respectful and timely cremation of Covid victims.