The Jharkhand government announced the waiver of all charges at cremation sites as part of its move to help bereaved families of those dying of Covid amid reports of violation of prescribed charges for funerals.

Chief minister Hemant Soren made the announcement during the online launch of an 80-bed oxygen supported facility at DAV school building in Ghatotand under Mandu block of Ramgarh district. The facility has been set up with the help of Tata Steel.

During the ceremony, Hemant also expressed concern over the growing cases of black fungus, which in recent weeks, has emerged as a new challenge in post Covid recovery complications in the state. Around 15 cases of black fungus have been detected from several districts in the last couple of weeks and at least four have reportedly died so far.

Soren said, “While we are trying to upgrade our medical infrastructure on a daily basis to tackle Covid-19, we are also trying hard to ensure that in the event of an unfortunate death of anyone due to the virus are given respectable send-off and that their families aren’t subjected to any kind of harassment at the cremation sites. Hence, we have now decided to end all kinds of charges imposed at the cremation site. For example, we have decided to provide woods free of cost at burning ghats. At burial sites, JCB machines will be engaged for digging pits.”

Health minister Banna Gupta said that the new rule will be applicable for all kinds of sites irrespective of religious affiliations.

“The government is also considering todeclare those engaged at such sites for various kinds of works as Covid warriors so that in case of any eventuality, their families can be compensated with some financial assistance, details of which are being worked out,” he said.

The burial sites are overwhelmed with bodies since the outbreak of the second wave of the pandemic from March end. According to the health department, as many as 4479 persons have died since March last year of which more than 50 percent of the casualties have come in the last two months. As families lined up to dispose bodies outside funeral sites, many reportedly faced instances of fleecing and arbitrary charging by workers at those sites for offering various services.

About the Ramgarh facility, Hemant added that it is part of state government’s efforts to now upgrade medical infrastructure in rural areas as the virus is shifting towards the remote areas. He said that they are working on multipronged dimensions that include mass testing for early identification of suspected cases, distribution of medical kits and creating awareness to weed off vaccine hesitancy in rural populace.

“We have already distributed 20 lakh rapid antigen testing kits and have demanded another 45 lakh from government of India to pace testing in rural areas,” he noted, adding that they have begun distribution of five Covid medicine kits in rural areas and are equipping grassroot workers like sahiyas, anganwadi workers with oxymeters to identify suspected or critical cases.

“We are also setting up oxygen banks in rural areas to prevent any shortage of oxygen, deploying at least two cardiac ambulances with all facilities at block levels to ferry critical patients to health centre among others,” he said.