DAVANGERE: Several incidents of dead bodies, belonging to those from the oppressed classes, being buried by the side of the road have been reported from the Puttaganal village, near Kadajji village of the Davangere taluk, recently. If one is passing by Kadajji, several burial sites can be seen adjacent to the roads, along with some temporary shelters made using coconut leaves.
People from the oppressed sections are burying their dead by the road side at Putaganal village, as they are allegedly not being allowed to do so in the places belonging to the other communities. The villagers said that they used to bury their dead in a nearby field, but as it was taken over by someone who also fenced it, they have no other place except the road-side to use as a burial ground for the bodies of their deceased relatives.
The burials are bringing fear in the public. Four days ago, a body was buried in the same place and the commuters on that road are now scared to use it. It is also affecting the health of the public, hence, the villagers are demanding public cemeteries.
Public cemeteries are set up in various parts of the district using the asset creation project under the flagship programme of the Centre’s Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Generation Act (MGNREGA), wherein the entire cost of levelling of the land, fencing it and fixing of the board to the cemeteries are done using the funds from the programme. However, this has not been completed in 91 villages, as there was no government land present in those villages and the villagers are not interested in sharing their lands for setting up of the Public cemeteries. When someone from an oppressed sections, SC or ST passes away, he or she gets buried in these places.
ZP CEO Padma Basavanthappa told The New Indian Express, “About 91 villages in the district have no public cemeteries for burial, hence, we have not set up cemeteries in these places and we will initiate setting up public burial grounds across the district in the coming days.”
She also said that at places where government lands are not available, no one has come forward to hand over the lands for setting up of cemeteries and the issue will be taken up with the district administration.
On the issue of cremation being carried out on the side of the road at Puttaganal, she said that it will be discussed with the respective Gram Panchayat and ensure that a separate cemetery is set up on government land.