A cartoon portraying the mythological character of Yamraj (death god) has now gone viral in the social media in which the god is appealing to people not to come in more numbers to him since his place (Yamapur) is ‘houseful’.
And that seems to be true in Sambalpur with the number of general deaths falling drastically during the ongoing coronavirus-related lockdown.
“There are also days when there is not even a single death,” said Kandarpa Rakhas, the in-charge of Rajghat, the main crematorium for Sambalpur city and suburbs. “I and the other staffs are astonished. But we are happy,” said Rakhas.
“Normally, an average of six dead bodies comes for cremation every day. But it has been reduced drastically in the recent days. And the reason is not known,” said Subhransu Nayak, the overall in-charge of Rajghat. “But we are happy that we don’t have to witness more such scenes like before,” Nayak said, adding that only 11 bodies were cremated during the last seven days.
The municipality authorities also admitted the fact.