DAMAULI, JULY 4

After 12-hour obstruction by the locals, a body of 44-year-old man who died of COVID-19, was laid to rest in Ludi Dobhan, bordering Sahid Lakhan Rural Municipality and Gorkha Municipality in Gorkha at 6:00pm today.

The man had died in Gorkha Hospital at 5:00am today. CDO Surendra Poudel said a Nepali Army team had buried the body amidst tight security adopting all safety measures. “The body was laid to rest performing the final rites,” said CDO Poudel.

The man from Gorkha’s Palungtar Municipality-7, had died while undergoing treatment at the isolation ward of the hospital.

A meeting of the District Security Committee, Gorkha, had decided to lay the body to rest in Ludi Dhovan. Though the preparations were made to bury the body at the designated place, locals had obstructed the process.

SP Surendra Gurung at the District Police Office, Gorkha, said police had opened eight rounds of tear gas shells to disperse the crowd. “Police had to use the tear gas shells to disperse the crowd after agitating locals pelted stones at the police,” said SP Gurung.

While SP Gurung and APF 19 Gulm DSP Gunaraj Neupane were preparing for the burial of the body, locals started shouting slogans protesting the police move.

A large number of APF and police personnel had been deployed to the burial site for security.

Gorkha CDO Surendra Poudel said they had decided to bury the body in the uninhabited area. Locals had obstructed the burial process saying it would not be appropriate to bury the body of a person from Palungtar in Ludi Dobhan.

The deceased had returned home from Qatar. Since then, he was kept in Palungtar’s quarantine facility. His swab sample had tested positive for COVID-19 on July 2. He was a chronic patient of diabetes and pneumonia.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on July 5, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.