Heavy rains interrupted the funeral services of a 100-year-old man in a village in Palghar, Maharashtra, because there was no cover over the crematorium and villagers had to act quickly to prevent the funeral pyre from being extinguished.
A video of the incident, that took place in Sakhre Dandi Pada here on Thursday, went viral on social media, with those who took part in the funeral claiming several reminders to the local panchayat to improve facilities at the crematorium had been in vain.
As soon as the pyre was lit, it started raining. We had to run here and there to collect metal sheets to cover the corpse so that it didn’t get wet, which would have come in the way of the cremation, a villager said. Deceased Govind Karmoda was 100 years old, the villager added. Efforts to contact Zilla Parishad president Prakash Nikam and chief executive officer Bhanudas Palve did not yield results.