HYDERABAD: It took Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s admonishment for Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) officials to finally issue instructions to graveyards about collecting only the stipulated “user charges” from families for performing the last rites of their dead, whether the cause of death is Covid-19 or otherwise.
There have been numerous complaints since March this year about crematoria collecting huge amounts, sometimes ranging from Rs 80,000 to Rs 1.2 lakh, for cremating those who die after contracting Coronavirus.
Families felt this was atrocious, particularly after they have already paid huge amounts to hospitals while trying to save their kin. Numerous complaints had been lodge through various platforms but GHMC officials remained oblivious to what is happening.
It all changed after the Chief Minister held a review meeting on Friday after visiting the MGM Hospital in Warangal. At the meeting, he pulled up officials of GHMC, including commissioner Lokesh Kumar, as well as those of municipal administration and urban development (MA&UD) department over the state of affairs. The Chief Minister instructed them to act immediately and regulate user charges at graveyards and crematoriums.
This led to a cascading effect, with GHMC zonal commissioners asked to inspect graveyards and crematoriums and ensure that user charges are being collected as per norms. Zonal commissioners have carried out inspections and posed for a few pictures too at the crematoriums.
However, Deccan Chronicle has found that user charges at all major crematoriums and graveyards remained the same on Saturday too, with no relief to kin of the deceased.
Commenting on the issue, a senior GHMC official, requesting anonymity, said government has fixed cremation rates as Rs 8,000 for cremating a dead body on wooden pyre and Rs 4,000 in case they are disposed of in electric crematoriums. User charges will be the same whether bodies are of Covid-19 or non-Covid-19 deceased. However, if the body is that of a Coronavirus patient, crematoria staff will have to follow the Covid-19 protocol of hand hygiene and using PPEs while handling bodies.
The official said if managements of graveyards and crematoriums collect any additional charges, corporation officials would book criminal cases against such people.
