As Delhi routinely saw a spike in the tally of COVID-19 cases and related deaths, another problem materialized itself in the paucity of transport facilities to ferry the dead to crematorium grounds and burial sites.
In the light of the current situation, the division bench of Delhi High Court comprising Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Rekha Palli, on Friday, (April 30th, 2021) directed the Delhi government to actively explore the possibility of using old busses of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) to ferry dead bodies of the Covid patients to cremation grounds and burial sites.
The matter came under the consideration of the bench after Senior Advocate Krishnan Venugopal brought to the notice of the court that ambulances were also being used for the purpose of taking the dead bodies to cremation grounds and burial sites, apart from transporting patients to hospitals.
Senior Advocate Venugopal also told the court about a provision for the rendering of services by the armed forces in aid of civil authority for maintenance of essential services, which upon the approval of the central government, can be availed by any state government, to which the court promptly directed the state government to evaluate the situation and take appropriate steps at its discretion.
Additionally, the court asked the government to also consider using mohalla clinic in order to facilitate immediate consultation and treatment to the patients and for the purpose of collection of the samples for Covid-19 testing.
Mohalla clinics, which were first set up by the Aam Admi Party government in 2015, aimed at reducing the financial burden of the low-income households by saving costs on travel and otherwise.
