The local civic administration in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj has removed the covers and bamboo sticks used to mark burial sites of suspected COVID patients.
Videos that have surfaced online show some people removing shrouds and bamboo sticks from dead bodies buried along the banks of river Ganga.
On Sunday night, excavators and labourers were employed at the Shringverpur ghat in Prayagraj to remove the shrouds from a stretch of nearly one kilometre, Dainik Bhaskar reported.
Another report by Hindustan said a similar exercise was carried out on Monday morning at the Phaphamau ghat.
A priest at the Shringverpur ghat told the Dainik Bhaskar that two excavators and nearly two dozen labourers removed the covers and bamboo sticks on Sunday night.
The bodies were taken away in a trolley and later burnt.
The Uttar Pradesh government came under fire after drone footage, shot by Reuters, showed hundreds of bodies, separated by bamboo sticks and covered with saffron cloth, buried along the banks in Prayagraj.?
According to officials, directives are to properly cremate the bodies, and those who have the tradition of burying the dead have been assigned a separate place.?
Officials have been asked to ensure that the bodies were not disposed of in water under any condition.