Bodies wash up on shores of river Sarayu in Uttarakhand; locals shocked, concerned

Pithoragarh: Dozens of bodies belived to be of COVID-19 victims have washed up on the banks of Sarayu river in Uttarakhand's Pithoragarh on Wednesday evoking shock, anger and concern among the locals.

Locals fear that water will be contaminated which will further lead to rapid spread of the COVID-19 disease as just 30 kilometers from where the corpses were seen floating, is the district headquarters, which gets its supply of drinking water from the river.

Many are concerned about the spread of COVID-19 as cases were at an all-time high earlier this month.

Locals also raised objections over cremating the bodies of Covid victims in the open areas as they are fearful of further spread of the infection.

Pankaj Chandola, tehsildar of the district who is supervising the cremation of the COVID patients in the Ghat area, said that the bodies flowing into the Saryu river are not from Pithoragarh .

"The area in which the corpses were floating is not from Pithoragarh . They have not yet been identified and investigation is being carried out from where the bodies came from," Chandola said.

Similar scenes were witnessed earlier this month in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, where bodies were found floating in the river Ganga.

Meanwhile, the Centre has asked Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to prevent the dumping of dead bodies in the Ganga and its tributaries, calling media reports of bodies of COVID-19 victims being dumped in the rivers "undesirable and alarming".