IIT Kanpur to assess adverse impact of immersion of bodies on soil, water

Seeking a complete ban on immersion and burial on the riverbed, he said immersion was wrong from the religious point of view as well.

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Kanpur is set to undertake a study to assess the adverse impact of immersion of bodies in rivers and their burial on river banks on soil and water, said Prof Vinod Tare, advisor to the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG).

This comes after a huge amount of graves were discovered on the banks of the Ganga in Rae Bareli, Unnao, Kanpur, Fatehpur and Kannauj, and fears about possible contamination of water and soil if the bodies were those of Covid-19 patients.

“We are going to study the impact of immersion of bodies and their burial on water and soil,” Prof Tare said, adding that the issue has been discussed at the NMCG level.

“Immersing a Covid body in the Ganga would wash the virus, but it won’t be destroyed; you need different agents such as heat and others to destroy (it),” said Prof Tare, who is with the institute’s environmental science department and has been part of all top panels formed to rejuvenate the Ganga.

Seeking a complete ban on immersion and burial on the riverbed, he said immersion was wrong from the religious point of view as well. The government should make arrangements in order to prevent the immersion of bodies, he said.

All districts, especially the big ones, receive drinking water drawn from the Ganga and vegetable cultivation also takes place on the riverbed.

Tare has issued an appeal for the people not to dump the bodies in the river or bury them close to it.

Many graves have been found in Unnao, Kanpur and Kannauj in the last few days. The bodies were buried at less than two-to-three-foot depth. This has heightened the fear that these corpses would be washed away once the river rises.

Read More: