River Patrols, Rs 5,000 Aid As Body Pile-Up By The Ganga Continues In UP

The police action in Ballia, and elsewhere, has come amid fresh reports of bodies found buried in the sandbanks of the Ganga River in two ghats in the state's Prayagraj town.

After multiple reports of bodies of suspected COVID-19 patients being found by the Ganga River in parts of Uttar Pradesh all through last week, police units in different districts across the state have stepped up patrolling by the banks and on the river itself to prevent bodies from being thrown into the river or buried along it. Visuals from eastern UP's Ballia district, where decomposed bodies were found floating in the river last week, showed police boats on the river carrying out patrolling. A separate police team was filmed making announcements asking people not to throw bodies into the river. "There are police patrols taking place along the ghats so that no one can throw a body in the river. We are also going to villages and sensitising people not to do this. We have also organised river patrols from our five police stations that are by the Ganges River. There are a total of nine police teams that we have engaged," Vipin Tada, the superintendent of police in eastern UP's Ballia told reporters. The police action in Ballia, and elsewhere, has come amid fresh reports of bodies found buried in the sandbanks of the Ganga River in two ghats in the state's Prayagraj town, home to the famous confluence of the Ganga and Yamuna rivers and among India's most revered pilgrimage sites.