In the first wave of Covid 19, they had cremated 76bodies of Covid patients and in the ongoing second wave of Covid, theyhave cremated 11 bodies of Covid patients till Monday.
Siddhanta Panda, Manoj Tripathy and Sisir Kumar Behera, three closefriends, have been rendering their service to the needy and helplesspersons for the last 20 years and have also cremated more than 722bodies till date.
After being inspired by the selfless service of the three friends,Kamlesh Nathani, a businessman of Sundargarh, joined them six monthsago and they have been cremating bodies of Covid patients in thesecond wave of Covid, without fearing for their lives.
When Covid 19 appeared last year and people were dying like flies,Sidhanta, Manoj and Sisir did not hesitate to join cremation of Covidpatients when their relatives avoided to join cremation and even, toobserve last rites, fearing transmission of virus. Least concerned about their safety, Sidhanta, Manoj and Sisir performed funerals by wearing PPE kits at Sundargarh Swargadwar, without charging any fee. In the second wave of the virus, after getting a call from Sundargarh Municipality or from Covid hospital regarding death of patients, Sidhanta, Manoj, Sisir and Kamlesh are reaching at crematorium with their PPE kits to join the funeral. Although these four friends are facing many challenges, but they look undeterred.
On April 13, a body of one Covid victim had come to crematorium from NTPC Covid hospital.
After getting information from Sundargarh Sub Collector Abhimanyu Behera, these four friends were present at the crematorium for the Yeoman’s service.
“We have been facing a lot of challenges in our journey, but we will continue to provide our service to the needy and helpless persons,” said Sidhanta.