Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
VARANASI, INDIA, September 6, 2009: Satyanarain Chowdhary supervises his family’s business: running the world-famous cremation ground Manikarnika ghat. The businesslike Chowdhary seems miffed at allegations of extortion at the ghat, where victim’s families have to cough up anywhere between US$20 to US$2,000, depending on their financial status, for last rites.
“It is merely a tax people have been paying us from Puranic times,” says Chowdhary, even as protesters marched earlier this week.
A sophisticated network roars into action the moment a body reaches the ghat. Within minutes a dossier on the dead and the family is ready. Everything from family tree to the bank balance is made available.
But the allegations are serious. “Not even the poorest is spared in Manikarnika and Harish Chandra ghat,” claims Kamal Patel, Varanasi corporator, who says there is a bloated price tag on everything in the cremation grounds, from the firewood to the numerous rituals.