Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma attends COVID-19 victim's cremation ceremony in Guwahati

Guwahati: Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma along with fellow Assam Minister Pijush Hazarika on Monday attended the cremation of Hemanga Majumdar, a Guwahati citizen who had passed away on Sunday due to COVID-19 related complications.

Taking to Twitter, Sarma shared pictures of himself attending the ceremony along with the caption, "I and Pijush Hazarika attended the cremation of Late Hemanga Majumdar at Ulubari. He had succumbed to COVID-19. We're in midst of an unprecedented crisis. Important for us to ensure our values, & faith in each other remain intact. We should lend moral support to all affected by COVID."

Sarma had condoled the death of Majumdar, Assam's 11th COVID-19 related casualty, via a Twitter post on Sunday. Sad to inform that one Hemanga Majumdar, 45 yrs old, resident of Khanapara, Guwahati died due to COVID-19 today in GMCH. He was brought to the hospital late, in a critical state. The doctors could not save him. My sincere condolences to the bereaved family", he wrote on Twitter.

At a time when myths and superstitions abound over the disposal of COVID-19 afflicted persons' corpses, Sarma has long been voicing out against the stigma around the disposal of COVID-19 patients' bodies. Time and again, he has stated that COVID-19 transmission cannot spread from corpses and he has appealed the people to allow the last rites to be performed.

Assam, meanwhile, has registered 7,835 cases of COVID-19, out of which 2,488 cases are still active.

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