Dainik Bhaskar has won Gold at WAN IFRA Asian Media Awards 2022 in the Category ‘Best Covid-19 related photography’ for its Bhopal edition – “Burning Pyres are not lying”.
Commenting on the recognition, Avnish Jain, State Editor, Madhya Pradesh said, “At Dainik Bhaskar, our editorial philosophy is ‘Kendra Mein Pathak’, and we believe the very reason for our existence is our reader’s trust in us. During the second wave of Covid, it was our bounden duty to investigate and report an apparent disconnect in the Government’s data and the reality on the ground. Given the extant circumstances, this was undoubtedly fraught with risk – especially to the health of our staff. Our reporters visited and gathered data from local crematoriums and burial grounds, and in one such incident in Madhya Pradesh, the government had reported only 4 deaths, but 112 funerals were done as per Covid protocol and our photographer captured this heart wrenching picture at one of the crematoriums.”
The photographer who clicked the picture, Sanjeev Gupta, commented further that “It was a truly gut-wrenching sight when I visited the Bhadbhada Vishram Ghat crematorium ground at Bhopal on April 15, 2021. I still get goosebumps remembering the day. It was a surreal feeling to see more than 40 pyres burning on the cremation ground. But perhaps the most distressing feeling was looking at the fact that while some of the departed had their dear ones close by, albeit it in PPE Kits, a lot of the departed had absolutely no one as they took their final journey.”
