BHUBANESWAR: With increasing Covid fatalities overburdening graveyards in the city, members of Muslim community have sought construction of another cemetery.
Stating that they are facing problems in burying the dead at the Satya Nagar cemetery due to lack of space, the community members have requested the State government to allot a plot near Chandrasekharpur or near RTO-II office for construction of another graveyard.
Musraf Khan, organiser of Unit-III Jama Masjid, said the lone graveyard for the Muslims at Satya Nagar is overburdened as more than 120 bodies have been buried in the last two months.
“As we are receiving 7 to 8 bodies a day, the graveyard is now packed to capacity making it extremely difficult to bury the deceased”, Khan said.
Fazal E Elahi, managing organiser of Satya Nagar graveyard, said the present Muslim population in BMC area is around one lakh. Community members from other parts of the State are also coming to the city for Covid treatment and in case of death, they seek to complete the last rituals at Satya Nagar, he added.
To deal with the crisis, they have sought seven to eight acre land at the suggested sites to set up another graveyard with proper communication facility.