VIJAYAWADA: Middle-class tenants in city are facing a peculiar problem. If someone dies in the family and if they were to keep the body until their relatives living abroad arrive for the last glimpse of the departed member, they face objection from the landlord as well as neighbours. This - keeping the body pending funeral - is considered an ill omen everywhere.
The municipal corporation is contemplating constructing special rooms in cremation grounds to help people to keep the bodies till the relatives from far off places in the country and abroad arrive for the last rites. The proposal was mooted in the recent council meeting by several ruling TDP and opposition YSRC corporators after their Division No.47 counterpart G Mahesh, built ‘Anthima Yatra Bhavan’, a special facility or a morgue in GS Raju Road at Satyanarayanapuram in the city for keeping the mortal remains for the convenience of those living in rented homes.
VMC funds were used for this. Spread over 300 sq.yards, the newly-constructed ‘Anthima Yatra Bhavan’ can accommodate four bodies at a time and it has freezer boxes, that were donated by philanthropists. “The facility will be made available soon and public in and around Satyanaryanapuram can make use of it free of cost,” he added. Mayor Koneru Sreedhar directed staff to check the condition of the vehicles that carry bodies and repair them.