'Uncountable corpses on banks of Ganga': Dainik Bhaskar's front-page story on deaths in UP

"In the proximity of just one kilometre, uncountable corpses on the banks of the Ganga."

This was Dainik Bhaskar's front-page headline today in its Delhi edition, on the grim situation in Uttar Pradesh's Shringverpur ghat. The story followed Bhaskar's ground report from last week where 30 of its reporters had reported on "over 2,000 bodies" either floating or buried along a 1,140-km stretch of the Ganga.

In today's report, the paper's journalist Amrish Shukla wrote that the situation was so grim that "as far as the eyes can see, one could spot corpses spread along the Ganga".

"There is not even a metre distance between the bodies," he wrote, "buried in a distance of one kilometre."

Cremations from Prayagraj, Pratapgarh, Sultanpur and Faizabad take place at this ghat. Local priests who perform the last rites told the newspaper that while they'd see eight or 10 bodies a day before, they now see "60 or 70" ever day. "Some days, more than 100 corpses come," the paper quoted one of the priests as saying. "More than 4,000 dead bodies have come here in a month."

The report noted that since the second wave of Covid began, the ghat has seen a shortage of wood for cremations. As a result, exorbitant prices are being charged by wood contractors.