Where even the dead have to wait

Inside the blackened furnace,partly-burnt bodies waited,too,stripped of dignity,just because the last few megawatts of power could not perform their function.

What can we do but wait? Often families have waited it out for four to five hours, Dayal said. It is sad because even in death,theres no respite.

The average waiting time,according to the members of the Dom community,which traditionally engages in scavenging and lives at ghats,stretched into at least two-three hours on an average.

According to a Dom community member these poor families are from the hinterlands and flock to the citys hospitals seeking medical care. In the event of a death,they have no choice but to go to the crematoriums for the last rites. When the electricity tripped during summers,it was mostly the poor who hunched against the blackish walls and waited,while flames leapt from the wooden pyres outside.

Death is no leveller here.

While the Gulbi Ghat electric crematorium in Patna sees more than 100 bodies per month,each consuming more than 260 volts per cremation,about 10 bodies end up at the ghats everyday for the more expensive,ritualistic cremation that consumes more than 400 kg of wood per person,pushing the cost over Rs 5,000,which most poor people cant afford,crematorium operators said. The municipal corporation only charges Rs 300 at the crematoriums.

With winter setting in,the power situation in the city has improved. But during summers,the power situation became a concern in the cities and towns as electricity was diverted from 10.30 pm to 5.30 am to keep the pumps running so that crops dont fail,Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi told The Indian Express.

Thats when power failed the dead,too. On a hot July morning,Malti Devi sat under a tin shed with her family waiting for the body of her sister-in-law,who died during childbirth. It was on the periphery of the ghats that Malti Devi mourned their poverty for the umpteenth time.

Power woes aside during the brutal summers,for the poor grieving families,it is the indignity that doesnt leave their side even in the time of death,they said.

We cant afford the expensive wood, Malti Devi said. But if there is no electricity,we dont want the body to be in limbo.

The states power deficit at 31.7 per cent of the states required capacity,according to the Central Electricity Authoritys June monthly report left many dead and decaying bodies in a state of crematory purgatory while the state and central governments embark on plans to connect the various parts of India to central,state and private lines of distribution.

In fact,more than 70 per cent of villages in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar combined are still waiting for electricity.

Even the Municipal Commissioner K S Kumar admitted the situation was bad. Its not just the power situation,where the deficits not only affected the departed,but also the equipment at the crematoriums that are old and non-functional,he said.

We have received complaints about the crematorium situation where people have to wait. Power cuts and equipment,which are more than 20 years old,are a problem, he said. When crematoriums were set up,these were under some schemes. Later,funds became an issue. We have asked the state to give us money to upgrade the crematoriums.

Only two out of four crematoriums in the Patna are fully functional. At the Bans Ghat crematorium where President Dr Rajendra Prasad and socialist leader Jayprakash Narayan were cremated,out of the two furnaces,only one is working.

It has not been working for the last one year, Bans Ghat crematorium operator Ram Lakhan said. But the bigger problem is electricity. Whats the point of GAP when crematoriums cant work properly?

The crematoriums,their walls lined with soot,look grim. Scenes from Buddhas famous journey,where he saw the stages of death,are painted in garish oil colours seem luridly out of context. This is where the families wait,and mourn endlessly. It is always dark inside.

There are no generators here. Those wouldnt be able to take the load,Dayal said. The Gulbi Ghat crematorium is one of the nine in the state built when the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi initiated the ambitious Ganga Action Plan to save the river from slow poisoning from the remnants and ashes of dead bodies that are dumped in the river for ritualistic closure.

(Inputs: Kartikay Mehrotra)