CHENNAI: Residents of Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB) tenements in Navalur have no permanent place to bury their dead. When Uday Aravind, a local resident, accompanied a group to the burial ground temporarily allotted by the panchayat in December, they encountered water barely after four feet of digging. “The site is on the bank of a waterbody.
During the rainy season, we cannot use it because water is released. Even when the site was allocated, officials told us that this is an objectionable land and we won’t be able to use it permanently,” Uday said.
Also, the site, which has been temporarily allocated by Serapanancheri panchayat, barely spans across eight cents and it is almost at full capacity. “There are 2,048 families staying at the resettlement site and this is a basic requirement,” said Thirumurugam M, who was resettled from Urapakkam.
After struggling for over two years, authorities orally told residents that they would be allocated a permanent space. However, it is situated five km away. “Not everyone can hire vehicles to transport bodies. A group of us traditionally carry the bodies; so how can we carry them for five km,” said Aiyappan P, another resident.
When contacted, panchayat officials said that they were in a fix although they admitted that the existing site is barely enough for a locality of this size. “The issue is that TNSCB tenements borders two panchayats. In Serapanancheri, a gram panchayat resolution was passed and we wrote to the concerned Revenue Divisional Officer,” said a local official. However, after this, oral instructions were given to allocate the land five km away.
“There is no space within the panchayat so we had to coordinate with nearby panchayats. Residents of the nearest panchayat began protesting against allotting burial space for the TNSCB residents in their panchayat. So the only space we have available is the one that is five kilometres away,” the official added.