LUCKNOW, Dec. 24 -- The city's only postmortem house, which is located on the King George Medical University (KGMU) premises, has allegedly run out of shrouds and plastic sheets that are used to cover bodies after the procedure, and, thus, was asking families to arrange them at their own expense.

The allegation was raised by the relatives whom this reporter met outside the postmortem house on Monday and Tuesday and sources in the local health administration. The sources said in September, only about 3,000 metres of cloth were supplied, far less than the 10,000 metres demand raised by the postmortem house staff. Officials said the supplied cloth would last for just over a month.

They explained that wrapping a single body required nearly ...