The Firewood bank of Sanjay Rai provides dignity in death

 We have come across many heart-wrenching stories after the second wave of the Covid 19 pandemic, but the most horrible of them was the floating corpses in the River Ganges. It happened almost every day in many a district of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. As per media reports, more than 2,000 bodies have been pulled out from rivers in UP, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh over the past two months. Hospitals and crematoriums were overflooded. Relatives started abandoning the bodies in hospital morgues due to the fear of infection, and for others, they had no means left to bid their loved ones a dignified goodbye. 

 Sanjay Rai Sherpuria, a 50-year-old social entrepreneur from Delhi was moved so much by these horrific visuals that he shifted his base to Uttar Pradesh. Sherpuria started a unique bank, Baikunth Dham Antyeshti Lakdi Bank (wood bank) with the help of a philanthropist from Ghazipur district, Virendra Singh. They have established 10 firewood banks across 10 ghats (piers) in UP’s Ghazipur district with the help of the district administration to arrange for the cremation of unclaimed bodies or the bodies from underprivileged families. A team of 46 people and more than 5,000 volunteers provide round-the-clock assistance to the relatives of the deceased to help them with cremations.

 Sherpuria says in an interview, “It was important to set up the bank for a number of reasons - first, the poor cannot afford the cost of cremations. Second, families have spent a lot of money on treatments, leaving them with very few resources; and third, the cost of firewood has been hiked in many places. On average, about 6-7 mann (maund) of wood is required for cremation. The cost of one mann wood has gone up from about Rs 250 to Rs 1,000-1,250 nowadays. Then the cost of performing other rituals is also about Rs 2,000-3,000 which adds up to around Rs 8,000-10,000 per cremation. This is not even the total annual earnings of many families in the poverty-stricken Purvanchal region,” he said.

 

The idea of setting up this bank appeared to him when he met Virendra Singh at the district hospital. Both of them were haunted by the visuals of floating dead bodies in the Ganges. As a businessman, Sherpuria offered Virendra money for the cremation of the dead bodies but he refused. So, he provided him with truckloads of wood for free to perform the last rites of the poor and needy. To start the bank, they put posters at the crematorium and outside hospitals and within two days, had helped 10 people. Apart from providing woods for the funeral, the bank has also started a helpline number to facilitate people approach them. “We are also getting calls from village heads but we are using discretion and taking the help of civic and hospital administration to identify those who genuinely need help,” Singh said. They are currently hoping that more people would join the cause. “The facility will be extended to eight other ghats of the district next week,” Sherpuria said. 

The Lakdi Banks aim to help the distressed; it also ensures that firewood is reserved for those who are in dire need and people from marginalized communities. "We usually consult the village heads to check a person’s financial status, and it is on their reference that we provide the wood free of cost. We also help people who haven't received any aid from the government and are unable to afford even wood to cremate their family members,” Sherpuria adds. Each of the piers has a team of about five people to supervise the process and help prevent confusion and chaos. They collect the wood from local markets, while a few farmers also donate leftover wood. The team requests people and organizations to send their leftover wood to the Lakdi Banks in their areas. Currently, they have a bank of about 600 tons. 

The initiative is successful in helping many families put their loved ones to rest in a dignified way. To date, the bank has collected around Rs 20 lakh ($27,000) and has a goal of collecting Rs 1 crore ($135,000), so the team can provide basic amenities to the crematoriums. 

However, in the future, Sanjay aims to create a more sustainable model, towards which he has started his work. “I’ve created a machine to make cow dung-based wood, which has many benefits. It will prevent us from cutting more trees, and also help villagers earn money in return for the cow dung they provide us with. It will also prevent them from abandoning the cows once they stop producing milk,” he says.

 

Sherpuria feels that, more than that, it will cut the expenses of cremation to a large extent. “With normal wood, one needs about 500 kg to 600 kg. A cremation process with this alternative won’t require more than 120 kg,” he says. “If successful, I will submit the plan to NITI Aayog for crematoria across the country to adopt this method”, he adds.

Apart from establishing the wood bank, to help villagers access resources for treatment, Sherpuria set up a quick Covid-19 response center in Ghazipur. Through a call center operated by 70 people working round-the-clock, it has so far responded to 16,000 calls and emergencies. The center also has a team that goes to every villager in Ghazipur district to conduct Covid-19 tests, provide medicines and raise awareness.