“We have been demanding a bridge over the river so that the residents do not have to face hassles in the event of flooding and heavy rains while carrying out a funeral procession,” said Sandip Pachange, gram panchayat secretary, Pitapur village.
In the absence of a bridge, residents of a village in Maharashtra’s Solapur district were forced to undertake a dangerous journey wading through a swollen river to bury a man as the village doesn’t have a graveyard.
A video of the funeral procession of Pitapur village resident Noor Ahmed (48) being carried out by people wading through the flooded Harna river on Tuesday has gone viral on social media.
सोलापूर : अक्कलकोट येथील हरणा नदीला पूर आल्याने अंत्ययात्रा पुराच्या पाण्यातून काढावी लागली.#flood #heavyrain pic.twitter.com/WZy7WfwtjL
— LoksattaLive (@LoksattaLive) August 9, 2022
The village, located in the Akkalkot tehsil, has a sizable Muslim population. As the graveyard is located on the other side of the river, the villagers had no option but to enter the swirling waters of the river to bury the dead.
