Jitender Singh Shunty
1995. I was in Nigambodh Ghat- New Delhi for a relative’s funeral. It was then that I saw a man collecting half-burnt logs from the funeral pyres. Initially, I thought he was stealing the logs and but then he told his story. His young son had passed away and the couple didn’t have funds to arrange for wood. I was shocked. In the capital city of India, where we spend crores on a wedding, a man didn’t have a few hundreds to have a decent funeral for his son. Thus began my journey… and I vowed that as long as I lived, everybody would get dignity in death.
I started the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Sewa Dal. People, police started approaching me to do the final rites of unidentified bodies. Later, we bought mortuary boxes and ambulances. In January 2020, we introduced siren ambulances… I firmly believe that its not the VIP but emergency vehicles that need to be given access, right?
Initially, people started mocking me- my relatives said I have made a business out of death. But this is the work of God… What started as a one man army, has grown to 22 volunteers, 18 hearse vans and ambulances today which are used for ferrying patients and their relatives to and from the hospital or for cremating the dead. I have cremated over 25k people since we started.
Since we started, I have been to Bhuj & Nepal during the earthquake, to Madras, Kashmir and Kerala during the floods. Seeing death and destruction is routine for me. But nothing shocked me the way Covid did.
From a newly married 24 year old girl who still had her shaadi ka chooda; to a 5-month old baby called Pari; 8 bodies brought in a single ambulance; a daughter driving her father’s body to different crematoriums to get a spot; organising pyres for over 40 bodies simultaneously: Such is the state that a family can’t even grieve but has to struggle to get things sorted… For the first time ever, I did cremation for 7 people from the Christian community as theirs burial ground was full. They collected the ashes the next day and buried them. We also immersed the ashes of over 850 unclaimed bodies in Haridwar.
Though there is so much grief… there are still people who have made a business out of it… The hospital charging exorbitant amounts of money to patient- imagine charging 6k for a PPE kit from 6 different patients? 20 Lakhs from the family of a patient who passed away.. ambulance driver taking 10 x from the patients… People selling the medicines in black… Have we lost all traces of humanity?
At 58, I’m in the cremation ground from 6am to midnight. Many days I have slept in the ambulance for the fear of spreading the virus to my family. At one point, my entire team & family including me had turned positive. But each time I have come back stronger.
In 2021, I was the recipient of the Padmashree and people said at least now stop your work… But I never did this for an award or recognition… The recognition just happened. I won’t give up… until life gives up on me!
