PATNA, NOV 30: A crisis is now brewing in the cremation grounds of Patna as the Doms (who are supposed to light fire to funeral pyres) are threatening to go on strike. Angry at the ``callous'' and ``insensitive'' attitude of the state administration towards saving the Ganga, the Bansghat Doms have said they would not offer mukhagni to the bodies brought to the cremation ground.As per Hindu tradition, if a Dom does not give mukhagni to a dead man, the latter's soul does not get moksha (release).A couple of days ago, the Doms had assembled at Bansghat and expressed sorrow at the plight of the Ganga. Their leader, tantrik Vikash Chandra alias Guddu, stepped up the heat today by going on a fast unto death. He is demanding that a pontoon bridge be built over the Ganga to facilitate the relatives to cremate their relatives near the holy river, and has written a letter to President K.R. Narayanan in this regard. ``Over the years, the Ganga has been gradually shifting away from Patna,'' he says. ``The government is not at all concerned about clearing the ghats and bringing the river nearer to the people.''What irks him most, says the tantrik, is that bodies are being dumped in the Ganga by authorities of the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH), whom he calls ``the worst polluter'' of the river. He says when he protested, he received threats from the PMCH. The tantrik is now sitting on the fast with an affidavit reading: ``If I happen to die during the fast period, please sell my kidneys and eyes and construct the pontoon bridge from the money.'' He has also instructed that his body should, under no conditions, be taken to the PMCH. He also shows photographs of bodies floating in the Ganga.He also accuses PMCH authorities of selling skulls of the dead. He claims that though an electric cremation is located at Bansghat, the hospital dumps headless bodies with broken limbs in the Ganga. According to Guddu Baba, an organised racket might be on in the sale of skulls. He also charges that the PMCH authorities have been misappropriating and embezzling funds meant for cremation of unclaimed bodies.In a PIL that he has filed, the tantrik has requested the Chief Justice to take stern action against erring officers and staff of the PMCH for their ``involvement'' in removal of the skull and limbs of dead bodies.Demanding that the Ganga Action Plan of 1986 be implemented, Guddu Baba switches on to another complaint - ``the poor maintenance'' of the samadhi of India's former president Rajendra Prasad. ``This clearly reflects the attitude of the state government,'' he says.The baba also criticises all those Union ministers who came visiting to Bansghat, made tall promises and then forgot all about them. ``Rajnath Singh, C.P. Thakur and other ministers visited Bansghat, surveyed the Ganga erosion and shifting away of the mainstream, but no one came out with a concrete proposal,'' he points out. ``The government had planned to go in for dredging of sand, but that is also yet to be done.''However, he feels, his Ganga Bachao Abhiyan would have an impact on the powers that be.
