As many as 148 grave diggers in Bengaluru have donated their one month's salary to the state government to fight the COVID-19 outbreak. While these men, with the toughest job and a small salary, have defined benevolence by their gesture, it is time the government reciprocated by providing them enough protection from the deadly virus.
"Our families will somehow sail through this month without the salary. This is the time to extend support to my country which is going through such a bad crisis," says Souri Raju, a grave digger at Kalpalli crematorium in Bengaluru.
Like Raju, the grave diggers working across 10 electric crematoriums and 60 burial grounds in the state capital are facing a precarious situation. The COVID-19 outbreak is giving them sleepless nights as they now fear the risk of coronavirus contraction.
After much persuasion, the civic authorities have given them 60 personal protection equipment (PPE) kits, which are to be worn while handling bodies of COVID-19 cases.
Two days back, when the first COVID-19 case (body) landed at Kalpalli, Raju and his colleague wore the PPE for the first time. But it was the second case that left the grave diggers worried.
"The relatives wanted us to burn the body with firewood. As it was a COVID case, we refused. The guidelines allow only electric burning of the COVID cases. It is highly risky to use firewood or even burial as we are exposed to the body during the procedure. Electric machine takes an hour but firewood takes six hours. It becomes hectic as we need to attend to other parties, too, and disinfect the premises after each cremation. Though the authorities have directed us to strictly use electric crematoriums for COVID cases, we want a clear government order to avoid confusion," says Raju, adding that the body was dispatched to Hebbal crematorium.
On any given day, each crematorium in the city receives 10-12 bodies and the burial grounds get 2-5 bodies each. With the novel coronavirus outbreak, the grave diggers suspect that there could be COVID deaths that went unreported.
"We are at high risk as we wear PPE only while handling COVID bodies and not normal ones. If the relatives of the deceased do not disclose or are themselves ignorant about the COVID status of the dead, we will be exposed to the virus. Who is to certify if the person who died at home had COVID or not? The families usually get a certificate from the private doctors," laments Raju, who feels the situation might turn grave if there is a spike in the number of deaths similar to other COVID-hit countries.
"The burial grounds, too, have space crunch. The burial procedure is too risky as we now need to dig not four but nine-feet deep pit for COVID cases. We cannot get down this deep pit carrying the body. Many bodies have blood leaking from the mouth. It is too risky. Even relatives refuse to lend us a hand," says Raju.
The grave diggers' association has managed to convince the civic authorities to provide them PPEs and N95 masks and gloves. But as the PPEs are for one-time use, they are worried if they can afford to use one set for every cremation. They also want the government to train them in handling the COVID-19 cases and to put stringent measures to protect the workers at the crematoriums.
Amid the lurking dangers, the grave diggers have donated nearly Rs 20 lakh (they earn minimum wage of Rs 14,000) to the BBMP commissioner.
Raju, a fifth-generation grave digger, who lives with his wife and six children inside the Kalpalli crematorium premises, says, "We trust only god and people's goodwill and continue to do what we do. We grew up eating rice sprinkled on the cemeteries and have come to realise that we don't carry anything with us when we leave this world."