Gangavati: Villagers oppose COVID-19 dead's burial; nightlong drama ends in morning

Gangavati: An incident took place in the taluk where villagers of Hirejantagal did not allow the burial of a COVID-19 dead near their village on Thursday, July 9.

A 51-year-old man, resident of Hirejantagal, died of COVID-19. As per his family’s wishes he was brought to Hirejantagal to be buried there.

However, after the dead body was brought there in the afternoon of July 9, villagers protested the burial being done there stating that the man was originally a resident of Sangapura so his funeral must be conducted there.

Gangavati MLA Paranna Munavalli then intervened and instructed for the last rites to be performed at Sangapura.

Learning of this, the villagers of Sangapura and Sai Nagar started a protest against the burial being conducted in their village.

The villagers did not allow for the funeral to be conducted till late in the night.

Officials then contacted the district administration who subsequently instructed for the burial to be conducted at the dense jungles outside Sangapura gram panchayat limits where finally the funeral was done early in the morning.