mid-day's 42nd anniversary: Cop who gives dignity to the dead

Dnyaandeo Ware 52Police Havildar who has been performing the last rites of unclaimed bodies for two decadesFor over two decades Police Havildar Dnyaandeo Ware 52 a police hearse driver attached to the Motor Transport Department of the Mumbai police Nagpada has been trudging in and out morgues in various civic and government hospitals collecting unclaimed and unidentified bodies He then performs the last rites of the deceased if the faith is known and then waits till the cremation is overIncidentally Warersquos unenviable job has no takers Hence he remains the only person to perform this duty for over two decades Worse since 2009 he had not even been promoted But a few months ago after a report in this paper on Warersquos tough job caught his superiorsrsquo eyes he was promoted and given awards and recognitionDuring the pandemic Ware has laid to rest over 500 nonCovid and 50 plus Covid positive unidentified and unclaimed bodies In June he laid to rest 35 unclaimed bodies of which five were Covid positiveldquoEvery time I come in contact with an unclaimed Covid positive body I take a step back and ensure that I have taken all the required precautions ndash hand sanitiser double mask and multilayered gloves PPE kits for the two people Manoj Valmiki 28 and his colleague Sunil Sharma 22 who assist me as I do not want my family to get infectedrdquo said WareldquoI had never seen such horrifying scenes ever before in my 20 plus years of lifting unclaimed bodies Mortuaries are piling high with bodies and crematoriumburial grounds have bodies on the wait list We have to wait between two to 10 hours with unclaimed bodies as the first preference is to crematebury the Covid dead And if I do not do this job no one else willrdquo says WareldquoI collect unclaimed bodies from St George GT JJ KEM Nair Sewree TB and Sion hospital mortuaries and dispose of them at either the electric crematorium Bada Qabrastan Marine Lines or the Mahalakshmi graveyardrdquo On an average before the pandemic they would dispose of three bodies a day But with the death toll rapidly rising they have had to spend hours waiting for the disposal of a single body His routine is harsher now as with the pandemic he has to drop his clothes in hot water wash them and only then enter his house But he is happy now that his efforts have been recognisedGanga Ware 43 his wife said ldquoMy husband has been doing this for 20 year Initially I was scared as there is always the risk of contracting an infection Today when I look back I realise only he could have done this work And because of his good deeds he is receiving applause and praiserdquoWhen asked if not with the police what would Ware have done for a living she smiled and said ldquohe was destined to be in the police department and do what he is doing best mdash giving dignity to the deadrdquoWare has six years of service left and he wants to continue doing what he does best With fear of a third wave set to strike soon Ware requests Mumbaikars to follow all Covid pro tocol and not to take the danger of the virus lightlyAlso Read Mumbai Param Bir Singh other top cops booked for extortion cheating