Shut for Covid-19 casualty: crematoriums The police had to deal with protesters who violated social-distancing norms to gather outside three crematoriums

A municipal corporation worker wearing protective outfit cremates the mortal remains of a Covid-19 patient(PTI)

K.M. Rakesh, TT, 25.04.20,  Bangalore: The administration of Dakshina Kannada district had to overcome mob resistance at five crematoriums before it could conduct the last rites of a 75-year-old woman who died on Thursday due to Covid-19.

Authorities were at their wits’ end, in almost a repeat of what happened in Chennai on Sunday where local people rioted forcing the family of a coronavirus-infected neurosurgeon to abandoned his body and flee.

While a colleague of the doctor had to bury the body with his bare hands and a shovel with the help of two health workers, the officials in Mangalore managed to cremate the aged woman at a crematorium in Bantwal near the city in the early hours of Friday after a marathon effort that lasted several hours.

The police had to deal with protesters who violated social-distancing norms to gather outside three crematoriums, and also faced resistance when they called up to make enquiries at two other.

The woman with a history of hypertension and cardiac issues had tested positive on Thursday, a day after she was admitted to Wenlock Hospital in Mangalore. She was the mother-in-law of a 50-year-old woman who died in Mangalore on April 19 in the first Covid-19 casualty in the coastal city.

A large number of people had gathered at the crematorium in Pachchanady on the outskirts of Mangalore late on Thursday anticipating the arrival of the ambulance carrying the body of the 75-year-old woman.

Although the woman hailed from Bantwal, rumours circulated on social media that the authorities would cremate her at Pachchanady. The two villages are some 25km apart in the same Dakshina Kannada district.

Local BJP MLA Bharath Shetty informed the police that the cremation could not happen without the consent of the people.

Since the authorities kept the body at the Wenlock Hospital morgue until they found a cremation ground, they didn’t have to shuttle from one place to another with it.

The local police then tried to organise the last rites at the electric crematorium in Bolar, about 12km from Mangalore city. But they had to back off since locals had gathered there as well.

With the district administration struggling to find a crematorium, Bantwal MLA U. Rajesh Naik of the BJP offered space in his farmland. Sources said Naik told the district authorities to take the body to his farmland, which had sufficient open space.

But the police personnel present outside the crematorium near Bantwal railway station eventually convinced the local people who then dispersed, allowing the cremation to take place around 2am on Friday.

There had been similar resistance when the body of the daughter-in-law had been taken to Bolar on April 19. Some locals had hurled stones at the convoy that was escorting the ambulance carrying the body that day.

Local MLA Vedavyas Kamath had intervened to defuse the tension and allow the cremation.

Mangalore police commissioner P.S. Harsha told reporters on Friday that such sensitive situations were difficult to handle.

“The political leadership would be better equipped in handling the local people. Since these are very unfortunate situations, we will have to take strong measures for the safety of the officials carrying the bodies,” he said.

Congress MLA U.T. Khader slammed BJP legislator Shetty for allegedly not doing his job. “As an elected representative, he should have cleared the air and allowed the cremation in Pachchanady itself.”

Khader also urged the government to come out with a clear plan for burials and cremations without any issues.

Shetty later clarified that he had only tried to save the situation since thousands of people had gathered at Pachchanady.

“Cremation is the accepted method to dispose of bodies of Covid-19 cases. However, 1000s of people including women gathered in Pachchanady,” he tweeted.

So far, 18 Covid-19 deaths have been reported in Karnataka. Dakshina Kannada district, of which Mangalore is the headquarters, has reported 16 Covid-19 cases including two deaths. Four patients are currently under treatment.