The Subernarekha crematorium witnessed violent protests by slum dwellers, opposing the cremation of two Covid-19 victims at Bhuinyadih under Sitaramdera police station early on Sunday morning.

Two women constables were injured as the agitated residents pelted stones at the police team that accompanied officials of the Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee (JNAC) around 5am.

The protesters, including a large number of women, expressed apprehension that the smoke emanating from the bodies would cause the coronavirus to spread in the densely-populated slum.

A worker at the crematorium had also expressed support with the slum dwellers.

Hence, the officials of the civic body, under whose supervision the cremation was to be performed, had brought in an operator from Parvati Burning Ghat in Bistupur.

However, the protesters identified the operator and did not allow him to enter the crematorium.

The protests continued from 6am till 8.30am.

The district administration finally called in former minister and Congress leader Dulal Bhuinya, also a local resident, who convinced the agitators. The bodies were finally cremated by 9am.

The two deceased include a 71-year-old man, a resident of Sonarim who died at the Tata Main Hospital around 1pm on Saturday.

About an hour later, an 88-year-old woman admitted there, also died of pneumonia. The hospital authorities sent the swab sample of the deceased to the MGM Medical College, where the test came positive around 11pm.

East Singhbhum district civil surgeon, R.N. Jha, told The Telegraph Online, “The 88-year-old woman, who was a resident of Baradwari in Sakchi, had been admitted at the Tata Main Hospital on June 21 for, but three days after her admission, she complained of breathing problems. Her Covid-19 test result came negative but she was shifted to an isolation ward for the treatment of pneumonia. After she died late on Saturday afternoon, the administration got a swab sample, and she tested positive.”

One member each from their families was allowed to attend the cremation.

“I was in a state of shock seeing two different kinds of people. While a bereaved son was impatient to touch his father’s body defying the administration’s order and without a PPE suit, the son of the octogenarian woman argued with us and abused us for making him attend his mother’s cremation,” said JNAC city manager, Ravi Bharti.

The police personnel deployed at the crematorium on Sunday Bhola Prasad

Meanwhile, the police have started identifying those who were indulged in the violence at the crematorium on Sunday.

“We will take action against those who had protested against the acremation of the bodies. Two of the constables sustained head injuries and we shall take action against them,” the deputy superintendent of police (headquarters-I) Pawan Kumar, told The Telegraph Online.

According to district surveillance unit sources, 21 more Covid-19 cases have come up in the steel city during the past 24 hours, taking the number of patients to 487 on Sunday.