The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Graveyards in city cry for attention FOCUS

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 03, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Graveyards in city cry for attention FOCUS

B. Madhu Gopal

In some localities they have become dumping grounds

Some of the graveyards are encroached by land grabbers
No proper facilities are available in many of them

Photo: C.V. Subrahmanyam

Adding to woes: A vacant land at Patha Venkojipalem being utilised as a burial ground by a particular community. Located amidst houses and schools, it’s posing serious problems to residents. —

VISAKHAPATNAM: Shortage of vacant land is not only affecting the living but also the dead, as bodies are being crammed in the same graves, or worse still, they are sometimes being dug out to accommodate new ones!

Land grabbers are not sparing even graveyards as every inch of land is precious. Land buyers hardly have any choice for acquiring a plot in cities. Purchasing a piece of land in the city is a pipedream for most middle class people, and when it comes at a lesser price they do not bother much whether it is abutting a cemetery or has partly encroached into it.

Not only Muslims and Christians but also Hindus of a few caste groups and others in specific cases like death of children and virgins bury their dead. Cremation or burial, whatever may be the practice, no person would like his or her mortal remains to be dealt with shabbily after death.

There are about 160 burial grounds in Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC). Of these, some are meant for the exclusive use of Hindus, some for Muslims and others for Christians. The others are common to all the three religions.

Revolting sight

Though the corporation has taken up beautification work like landscaping and provision of basic amenities like laying of approach roads at some of them, many of them are being used for open defecation by slum dwellers.

“Though we don’t have much of an encroachment problem, people living adjacent to the Waltair Cemetery and those living in the vicinity of the cemetery at Jagadamba junction are throwing wastes and garbage into the compounds and creating a nuisance,” T. Issac, secretary of the Visakhapatnam Christian Cemeteries Board says.

“We have stopped using a portion of the Waltair Cemetery as it is not approachable due to the piling up of wastes. In the other cemetery at Jagadamba junction, residents of the nearby houses are draining their wastes into the cemetery. An approach road has been encroached upon at the Dutch Cemetery near Kurupam Market,” he said.

“The previous District Collector has promised to allot land for setting up of three burial grounds one each at Madhurawada, Pendurthy and Gajuwaka for the convenience of Christians living in those areas but no action has been take so far. We plan to revive the cemetery at Jagadamba Junction if the Government fails to keeps its promises,” says Mr. Issac.

Horrifying

A small piece of vacant land beside the Chakali Gedda at Sanjay Gandhi Colony (Old Venkojipalem) located in a residential area is being used as a burial ground by a particular community despite protests from the residents of the area. The Municipal Corporation Officials failed to address the problem though several representations were submitted to it for more than a decade now.

Though this ‘burial ground’, if it could be called one, is used only about half-a-dozen times a year, the woes of the people of the nearby houses, children of schools and ‘dhobies’ of the area are innumerable. While some use the place to bury, others burn the corpses in the open, exposing children of the ‘Balwadi School’, run by the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC), to a horrifying experience.

There is no compound wall, a raised platform or water facility. But one community living in the area prefer to use the place for the simple reason that it had served as a burial ground since ages when Old Venkojipalem was a village. This is despite the fact that another burial ground with a raised platform is available close by. Residents allege that the place is Government wasteland that is though unauthorised being used to burn corpses.

It comes as no surprise that people living 15 – 20 km. away near Dairy Farm and MVP Colony still prefer to go to the Chavulamadhum (near Gnanapuram) for cremation of their near and dear ones. The lack of amenities and poor maintenance at other cemeteries is forcing people to go there. The availability of private vans to carry corpses is another reason for people preferring it though it is far away.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh