Bodies found in the river Runj, passing though the village of Nandanpur in Panna district of Madhya Pradesh, have caused a scare among local villagers amid reports of bodies of COVID-19 victims being found in river Ganges in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
District collector Sanjay Kumar Mishra, however, told The Week that bodies of two persons who died of causes other than COVID-19 in the nearby village of Bihad Sarwaria, had been recovered from the river. He also said that a health survey of residents of both Nandanpur and Bihad Sarwaria had been carried out and there were no cases of COVID-19 infection in the villages.
Residents of village Nandanpur in Ajaigarh block of Panna had earlier claimed to local media that five to six bodies were floating in the river Runj, a tributary of River Ken, near their village.
However, talking to The Week on Wednesday, former sarpanch of the village Sharda Prasad Singroel said that only one body was seen since past three to four days and another was found during a search on Wednesday. “Some villagers might have made a speculation about more bodies in the river,” he said. Villager Anil Singroel also confirmed that two bodies had been found in the river.
The villagers had expressed apprehension about the bodies polluting the river water that they use for nistaar (other domestic) purposes like washing, cleaning and drinking water for cattle. They claimed to be using the river water for drinking themselves when the hand pumps in the village gave up.
After reports of the bodies spread locally, the district administration and police teams led by district collector Sanjay Kumar Mishra and superintendent of police Dharmraj Meena reached the spot on Wednesday.
Talking to The Week from the spot, the district collector said that two bodies had been recovered and both have been identified as residents of village Bihad Sarwaria, about 3km from Nandanpur. Mishra said that both had died of other causes, one being a cancer patient who was over 90 years old. The other deceased, who had white patches on his body (probably vitiligo patient) was about 70 years old, he said.
“There is a local custom of sometimes immersing the bodies in rivers in case the deceased had some specific diseases or causes of death. This seems to be the case here,” Mishra said.
He added that the river has no flow of water near the village during this time of the year and there is no possibility of the bodies flowing down from anywhere. He said the teams were still at the spot and searching the river. He also said that samples of the river water had been collected for testing of suspected contamination.
There were speculations that the bodies might have flown in from Banda district in bordering Uttar Pradesh.
Meanwhile, videos of bodies, claimed to be those dead by COVID-19 infection being immersed in river Narmada in Nemawar of Dewas district by people wearing PPE kits and using boats, made rounds on social media. The Week could not confirm the authenticity of these videos.