VISAKHAPATNAM: Imagine a village graveyard and the first scene that comes to mind is a secluded place infested with weeds, termitorials and shrubs with rats and snakes being the frequent visitors. Lack of amenities at the graveyards in rural areas has always been a concern for the rural citizens.
The problems appear to be a thing of the past with the Central government having taken a serious note of the issues and deciding to develop the graveyards under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).
As part of the move, Visakhapatnam administration has geared up to facilitate basic amenities in graveyards across the district. Boundary wall, toilets, sheds for cremation would be constructed and water would be provided. Observing lack of basic needs in the graveyards, particularly the Hindu cremation grounds, the NRIs have also come forward to join hands to develop the yards, with a promise to the government that they would share 30 per cent of the expenditure.
The government has proposed to take up the works under the MGNREGS to which the Centre has given nod.
According to preliminary estimates, `10 lakh is needed for each graveyard. For registering the current status of the graveyards, Rural Development commissioner B Ramanjaneyulu has already issued directions to geo-tag all the graveyards and school playgrounds. Once the exercise is completed, the officials have been told to prepare the work estimates.
“With the NRIs offering to share 30 per cent of the expenditure, there is likelihood that the graveyards and playgrounds would be refurbished. The rest of the expenditure will be met by taking up the works under the MGNREGS. All the sarpanches have been directed to cooperate by giving proper information like boundaries and the works needed to develop the graveyards and playgrounds,” said A Kalyana Chakravarthy, project director, District Water Management Authority.
There are over 950 villages in the district. The officials expect that there would be two or three graveyards and at least two school playgrounds in each village. “Over 2,500 graveyards are expected to be developed and an equal number of playgrounds,” Kalyana Chakravarthy added.