December 1, 2020 7:18:22 am
It was around 4 am on July 24 when Bellam Srinivas, an IT professional, received a phone call from the United States. The middle-aged woman at the other end breathed a sigh of relief. She told Srinivas that her 75-year-old uncle had passed away three days after fighting Covid-19 and that the body was lying in the Gandhi Hospital morgue in Hyderabad with no one to claim it. The entire family of the deceased, Narasimham, was in quarantine, and some of them tested positive for the disease.
In the following hours, the Srinivas team contacted the concerned authorities and the cremation was completed at 4 p.m. that day. The thank you call he received that night, filled with prayers and blessings, says Srinivas, is priceless.
A group of 10 IT professionals, Srinivas and their friends came together at the start of the pandemic to serve those in need. They began with the distribution of food packages and grocery kits, and went on to organize the last rites of Covid patients, purchasing their own hearses with the help of the police and a corporate donor. So far, Srinivas estimates, they have helped carry out the cremation or funerals of 220 people.
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Team member and activist K Sai Teja says: “The last trip to a cremation ground 6 km away may require more effort than a plane ticket to a foreign country. We realized this when the mother of one of our friends passed away. The trauma and agony caused by things like organizing an ambulance for the cemetery are immense. “
A few days before July 24, Srinivas had received another call from the US asking him to help him with the last rites of his father, a 70-year-old man who had died of Covid-19, while his father 65 years. mother was still in the hospital. All the paperwork, including the settlement of medical bills, was organized by his team.
In addition to Srinivas and Sai Teja, the team includes Ankit Raj, Anumod Thomas, Pradeep Gadicherala, M Prashanth, Raman Jeet Singh, U Surender, V Jagadeeshan, and Vinay Vangala. They finish their eight-hour office hours before volunteering for service.
For the first vehicle, the 10 raised their own money, and the Cyberabad police helped them secure a donation from Silicon Business Solutions Private Limited. Within a few weeks, they had first linked up with the Hyderabad police and added one more hearse, and then with the Rachakonda police, thus covering the entire Greater Hyderabad region.
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Srinivas says that between July and September they received about 900 calls, most of them people seeking ambulance services between the home and the hospital. “The number of calls is decreasing and that is a good sign,” he says. Of the last 220 rites organized to date, the team paid for 40 as the families were too poor.
“Our hearse service is free, and in cases where families cannot afford the expenses, we also bear the expenses at the cemetery or crematorium,” says Sai Teja, adding that the average cost per cremation is around 10,000 rupees. “We just want to make sure the last rites are worthy.”
In stopping their first hearse on July 4, Cyberabad Police Commissioner VC Sajjanar recalled the difficulties faced by family members of Covid victims, particularly due to the stigma involved, and appreciated the team’s efforts.
While the fatality rate is now around 0.4% percent in Telangana, well below the national average, Sai Teja says they expect “a second wave.” “When we finally get no more calls from families in distress, we will donate our vehicles to remote villages where travel for medical needs continues to be a problem. Until then, we’re at work. “
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