Odisha Good Samaritans to perform funeral rituals of abandoned COVID-19 victims

The six friends, who have been helping cremate bodies, plan to scatter the ashes at Prayagraj after six months when pandemic situation improves.

After six months, Siddhant Panda, a resident of Odisha’s Sundargarh district, plans to pay a visit to Prayagraj for performing ‘asthi visarjan’, a Hindu ritual of immersing and scattering the ashes and leftover bones of the departed. Mr. Panda has not lost anyone in his family or any relative in his extended family but he said he was morally-bound to bid a final adieu to some whose bodies have been abandoned. Since last year, Mr. Panda and his five friends have been helping cremate COVID-19 victims after their relatives abandoned the bodies at Sundargarh. A fortnight ago, Sundargarh was one of the worst-hit districts in the second wave of the pandemic.