Former Indian politician helps 3,000 families get ‘respectful’ cremation for loved ones who died of Covid

As Covid-19 continues to take lives in Delhi, Mr Singh has ensured that as many as 3,000 families have been able to bid a dignified farewell to their loved ones, as Mayank Aggarwal reports

Former Indian politician Jitender Singh (in yellow turban) has helped hundreds of families in Delhi in carrying out cremation of their loved ones who died due to Covid-19 (Jitender Singh)

Twenty-five years ago, former Indian legislator Jitender “Shunty” Singh stood at a cremation ground watching a bereaved father steal firewood from someone else’s pyre because he did not have the money to buy the wood needed to cremate his young son.

It made him resolve to help people who are unable to afford a dignified farewell for their loved ones. As Covid-19 continues to take lives in India’s capital city of Delhi, Mr Singh is being praised for helping as many as 3,000 families get “respectful” cremations for their loved ones.

“During the first wave, we cremated 967 people who died due to Covid-19. During the second wave this year we have carried out cremation of close to 2,000 people between 1 April and 10 May. Many of them are so young… it breaks my heart,” Mr Singh, a former member of the legislative assembly (MLA), told The Independent.

He is the founder of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Sewa Dal, an NGO formed in 1997, that helps in the cremation of unclaimed bodies. In the past two months, he has encountered several cases of family members refusing to touch the bodies of those who died due to Covid-19.

“Some people are genuinely not able to carry out cremation as they are in hospital or in quarantine themselves while some call us and ask us for our help as they don’t want to touch the bodies. Some bring the bodies and leave it outside the cremation grounds,” he said.

“Shunty”, as he is popularly called, said in many cases they were told that the local administration asked the families to call their NGO for help in cremation.

He said a woman called him from Doha, Qatar, on Monday, seeking help for the cremation of her 76-year-old father who died of Covid-19 in a hospital in Noida, a suburb of Delhi. Her brother is also in the hospital battling a Covid-19 infection.

Mr Singh has a team of 22 volunteers, including one of his sons, who has been working for close to 20 hours a day to help grieving families. Of the 22, four are in quarantine after testing positive for Covid-19 which includes his son.

The group has a fleet of over a dozen vehicles including a hearse van and ambulances that are available free of cost round the clock. The 59-year-old said he hasn’t had a chance to go home for 18 days and sleeps in his car at night in the parking lot.

They operate across cremation grounds in east and northeast Delhi, but one in the Seemapuri locality in east Delhi, he said, has been given to them for complete administration.

“We start at seven in the morning and continue till night with many of us only sleeping for four hours in a day. The pain is beyond words and the tears just don’t stop,” he said.

His organisation provides free ambulance, wood for the pyre, PPE kits, gloves, masks, sanitisers, and body bags among other things. On a video call with The Independent, he pointed out a number of burning pyres in the cremation ground and over 100 tonnes of wood lying outside, required in the cremation.

“On average, the cost of one cremation is about 5,000 rupees (£48) average. Some give us the money while some don’t. I raise the money required for the cremations from donations and my friends, who are very generous in their help,” he said.

When asked why he decided to help in cremation work, he recounted a story from 1996 when he had gone to a cremation and saw a middle-age man taking wood from a nearby pyre that was being prepared.

“When I asked him why he is stealing the wood, he said he has no money to arrange wood for the cremation [of] his young son. That day changed something in me as I felt there is no dignity even in death. I was shocked that in the capital of the country a person is not able to get money for cremation. Soon after that, I started my NGO and since then I have been doing this,” he said.

In the last 25 years, he has helped cremate about 25,000 people and the hearse van of his organisation has helped to carry as many as 4,500 bodies. Mr Singh idolises Indian freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, on whose name his NGO’s bears.

Besides helping in cremation, Shunty’s organisation also organises blood donation camps and he has himself donated blood a record 103 times, which earned him the nickname of Donor Singh. They also provide free ambulance service.

He said in many cases when no one comes to claim the ashes, even after weeks, they immerse them in the river as per Hindu tradition.

Over the past two months, as deaths ravaged the country and cremation grounds ran at full capacity, Mr Singh said he helped people from other religions as well. His organisation cremated the bodies of seven Christians in the presence of a pastor. Their ashes were then taken for burial as there was no space for more bodies.

Mr Singh said the pandemic has shown a “very dark side of humans”.

“People are being made to beg and feel helpless for oxygen, hospital beds, medicines and injections. We should be ashamed,” he said.

Delhi has recorded 19,663 deaths since the start of the pandemic last year and, of that, close to 9,100 are since 1 March this year. Since last year India has recorded over 22.7 million cases including about 250,000 deaths – a significant number of which has come during the second wave in the past two months.