546 DEAD-END JOB: The plight of crematorium workers needs attention even as bodies are piling up during the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. PTI
Mallepalli Laxmaiah
Chairperson, Centre for Dalit Studies, Hyderabad
THESE are dark times. Many people are losing hope of seeing their loved ones survive the Covid pandemic. Funeral pyres now require a queue and death is the word that is ringing across India incessantly. In this dire situation, one cannot even afford a decent cremation for one’s loved ones. A dignified death has become rare. But the only ones who are in service day and night to those departed are the crematorium workers, known as Dom. Members of Dalit castes all over India invariably are the ones who stand at the burning pyre for the last journey of the dead after the rituals are over.
Telangana: Graveyard Workers Bear The Brunt of Rising COVID Cases May 02, 2021, 15:45 IST
HYDERABAD: The Centre of Dalit Studies sought the Telangana State police s help to applaud the services of those working in crematoriums and cemeteries during the COVID-19 pandemic times.
The Centre’s chairperson Mallepalli Laxmaiah wrote a letter to the state DGP M Mahender Reddy. In his letter, Laxmaiah brought to his notice a video circulating on social media about policemen beating two crematorium workers who had gone to buy dinner.
Also Read:
In his letter to the DGP, he stated that “The absolute lack of care and concern towards them truly highlights the marginalisation that is being faced by them. In these times, where healthcare is overburdened and the death toll has become just a part of statistics, the brunt is borne by unprepared and ignored cemetery/graveyard workers, as a rising death toll takes effect on their physical and mental well-being,” he wrote.