Watch: Nellore Municipal Corporation uses earth-mover to dispose of COVID-19 bodies, investigation ordered

Nellore municipal officials move COVID-19 bodies with an earth-mover

In an insensitive move, bodies of COVID-19 victims were seen being dumped by an earthmover by the municipal staff of Nellore Municipal Corporation in Andhra Pradesh.

The video of the incident which was widely shared on the various social media platforms was also shared by the opposition leader N Chandrababu Naidu, who expressed his anguish over the video and asked the chief minister of the state, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, to apologise for the apathetic handling of the coronavirus victims.

“Pained to see bodies of COVID-19 patients in Nellore being disrespectfully thrown into a single pit using an Earthmover. This is happening time & again. @ysjagan Govt must offer an apology to the grieving families who wished for a respectful departure for their loved ones, ” tweeted N Chandrababu Naidu along with the video.

https://twitter.com/ncbn/status/1281467347211972608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

As can be seen in the above-attached video, 4 municipal staff members wearing PPE kits pull out bodies of coronavirus victims from an ambulance and push them into the earthmover idling at the spot. The driver of the earthmover then dumps the bodies of the patients in the nearby pit.

The incident caused a furore in the state after the video of patients being disposed of using earth-moving machine went viral on the Internet. An enquiry has been ordered into the matter, said Nellore District Collector MV Seshagiri Babu. Nellore revenue divisional officer Hussain Saheb has been appointed as enquiry officer who said that he has taken cognisance of the matter and an investigation into the matter is underway.

OpIndia Staff: Staff reporter at OpIndia