Civic bodies take lead to create burial spaces

PANAJI/PONDA: The Ponda Municipal Council (PMC) has recently taken the lead in providing a common burial and cremation facility for deceased persons irrespective of faith. Constructed within the campus of Muktidham-Ponda Hindu cremtatorium at a cost of Rs 7.2 lakh, it can currently accommodate 42 bodies. PMC’s chief officer Navnath Naik said that the capacity could be increased if the need arises.
Currently, the Mormugao municipal council caters to deceased persons of all faiths from South Goa and occasionally from the North as well. Its crematoria are located at Khariawada and Bogda, and burial spaces at kabrasthans at Maimollem and Bogda, along with a Christian graveyard at Bogda. The CCP also has common burial and cremation facilities.

Other municipal councils, too, are making headway in providing facilities that benefit persons belonging to different faiths as well as atheists. This progress has been made after repeated recommendations by the Goa Human Rights Commission (GHRC) to the director of municipal administration and the director of panchayats.

The complaint before GHRC was filed in 2014 by Anthony Rodrigues, who said that the state is obliged by law to provide such facilities under Section 21 of the Constitution.

In Margao, the municipality has entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Mormugao Municipal Council to bury the dead, stating that it did not have a developed place of its own to do so.

A part of the land acquired by the Margao Municipal Council to set up a kabrasthan was reserved as a burial ground for persons from different faiths, but the council informed the commission that this hadn’t taken off yet due to stiff opposition. The council said that a 1,000 sqm decent burial ground would be developed as soon as work of the Kabrastan is taken up.

In Sanguem, the local municipal council has separate sites for cremation of members of the Hindu community, a kabrasthan for Muslims and a burial ground for Christians.

In Curchorem, the municipality has assured that it will initiate action on a war footing to acquire land and develop it under Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA). Meanwhile, the Bicholim Municipal Council has already earmarked 100sqm of land at Pajwada, while the municipal councils of Cuncolim and Canacona have also identified land for common burial and cremation grounds. The Pernem Municipal Council has stated that it will move for land acquisition for the construction of a burial ground.

In Valpoi, the municipal council has sought to earmark 100sqm of land. In Quepem, too, the municipality has sent a proposal to GSUDA for development of an existing crematorium and proposed burial ground at Condi, while the Mapusa Municipal Council has stated that the North Goa Planning and Development Authority (NGPDA) has processed its request for land acquisition. In Sanquelim, the municipal council told TOI that it resolved to allot 1,000sqm for a common burial/cremation ground in the vicinity of the garbage treatment plant at Arvalem.