These women are giving a dignified farewell to Covid victims

They have been performing last rites of unattended bodies, including those who died due to Covid, along with the others.

Hyderabad: Meet the group of five women from Khammam who are ensuring a dignified farewell to Covid-19 victims. Tailam Saraswathi, Eswaramma, Anusha, Uma and Battula Devisree are members of the Annam Seva Foundation, run by Annam Srinivas Rao.

Devisree (16) and Anusha (13) are the youngest among the five. The duo joined the organisation last year during the first wave of the pandemic to break barriers and serve the society when the Covid-19 crisis was at its peak. Since then, they have been performing last rites of unattended bodies, including those who died due to Covid, along with the others.

“There’s barely any field today where women haven’t proved their mettle. I took up the vocation out of a sheer passion to serve the society,” said Devisree, the granddaughter of Srinivas Rao. Her parents worked as cooks at the shelter home for destitute and persons with special needs, running under the aegis of the Annam Seva Foundation after they had to shut their eatery at Yellandu in Bhadradri Kothagudem district during the first Covid-19 lockdown.

Inspired by the work done by her grandfather, the teenager also joined the NGO and has been serving the destitute and those with special needs. But why women can’t conduct funeral rites remained a question in her mind. “I didn’t allow her to join the team since she was a young teenager. In September 2020, when we received information about an abandoned body on a nearby railway track, Devisree somehow convinced and accompanied me to the site. I was surprised to see her shifting the body to the cremation ground without any hesitation and cremating it,” Srinivas said.

Since then, the group of five women conducted final rites of over 30 people apart from nearly 15 Covid-19 victims. “I felt sad at finding families abandoning their loved ones who died of Covid and not giving a final farewell in an honourable manner,” adds Devisree, who wishes to become a doctor and provide free treatment to the underprivileged.

Her path surprised many, but the family has been supportive and encouraging throughout, she says. The other women members of the team believe what they’re doing is a service to the society.