“I implored them to help me take her body to the cremation ground but no one helped,” said Tamta. Eventually, he buried her body hear his house with the help of Harka Prasad Sharma, a schoolteacher.
“It didn´t even occur to me that she should be properly cremated. My only worry was how to get rid of her body,” said Tamta.
None of the five who died in the Dalit settlement in Thana received proper cremation as none of the villagers would come near the body for fear of cholera.
Customarily, the dead of Thana village are cremated in Majkot River amid traditional music. Regardless of whether the dead is a child or an elderly, all are respected with three to 13 days of mourning.
However, those who died in the epidemic could not receive this traditional respect.
Kali Tamta, who lost her nine-year-old daughter, said, “Never had this happened. Dead humans did not get any respect.” Her daughter, a second grader at Jansarokar Primary School, died on June 30.
“There was no doctor in the village. We were carrying her to Thalaha. But she died on the way. We buried her right there and returned home,” Kali said, explaining that had she brought the body to her village, no one would have cared.
Sharma, who teaches in the school, said the situation arose because saving lives has become more important than cremating the dead.
The situation is not limited to Thana. A majority of people who lost their lives in Jajarkot owing the cholera did not receive traditional cremation.
On June 29, Bhim Bahadur Shahi of Punma fell ill. Neighbor Tikhu Shahi and others were carrying him to a health post. But Tikhu himself died half-and-hour before Bhim Bahadur, on the way.
Tul Singh Bhandari, who witnessed the deaths, said both were buried before the rest returned home.
Villagers are more pained by their inability to conduct rituals than by the deaths.
Nationwide diarrhea toll at 264
Health Minister Uma Kanta Chaudhari said Monday that the deaths due to the cholera outbreak are not as high as have been reported.
Organizing a press conference in Birendranagar on Monday, he said so far 232 people have lost their lives throughout the mid-western region, of which 135 died in Jajarkot and 49 in Rukum. The Ministry of Health has put the national death toll at 264 by Monday.
The minister said that lack of awareness is the main reason behind the continuing spread. “We have arranged for adequate number of health workers and medicine, but lack of awareness has made it difficult to stem the spread,” he said.
He added the government will start an awareness campaign by mobilizing local health workers and women health volunteers. He further said that in three months, 5,000 toilets will be built in the affected region, and relief supplies of 10 kg rice and 1 kg salt per family will be distributed immediately.
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