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Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra targeted the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh over the recovery of dead bodies floating in Ganga and other rivers of the state and burial of bodies along Ganga river banks in Unnao and demanded a judicial inquiry supervised by a high court judge. She further alleged  that the state government was trying to fudge figures related to cases and deaths due to Covid infection.
With corona cases continuing to rise across the country, dead bodies have been found floating in rivers and water bodies in various states of India. In Uttar Pradesh, dozens of decaying bodies have been found in the Ganga river in Ghazipur, Ballia, Chandauli  and other parts of the state. There have also been reports of mass burials being carried out by deceased’ kin river banks in other parts of UP.
In a series of tweets on Thursday, Priyanka said: “According to the news reports, bodies are flowing in the river in Ballia, Ghazipur and hundreds of dead bodies are buried along the river in Unnao. Death figures in cities like Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Jhansi, Kanpur are being watered down by many times. Extreme inhumanity is happening in Uttar Pradesh."
Terming the situation in Uttar Pradesh as ‘inhuman and criminal’, the Congress leader alleged, “The government is busy sprucing up  its image while people are suffering unimaginably and dying. Under this circumstances, a judicial enquiry should be immediately initiated under the supervision of a High Court judge.”
Earlier, the Unnao district administration ordered a probe after some bodies were found buried on Ganga riverbank in Bighapur Patan tehsil area. The district administration swung into action after locals spotted bodies buried on Baksar ghat of the river with some photographs of the bodies too going viral on social media. But, the spectre of bodies floating in rivers is not confined to Uttar Pradesh alone. While several bodies were found in Ghazipur, Ballia, Chandauli, Hamirpur, Unnao in UP, another 71 were fished out in Bihar’s Buxar district. The situation has triggered fears among local residents in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh that bodies of COVID-19 victims were being dumped in the river by the harried kin.