CHENNAI: A crisis that has hit the Christian community the hardest. Short of space, Chennai cemeteries have hit a dead end.
The cemeteries in the city have been running short of space for years now, forcing them to deny space to any except those families that have a burial spot. Facing severe space crunch, it was the oldest and biggest cemetery at Kilpauk that decided on innovation by introducing the 450-unit multi-tier vault system in 2007.
However, in just eight years, this has also been filled, forcing the Madras Cemeteries Board Trust to approach the Chennai Corporation seeking permission to open the vault to clear the remains. But there is a catch: as per norms, the vault is supposed to be opened only once in 13 years. That is 2020, still four long years to go.
The trust wrote to the Chennai Corporation Commissioner, D Karthikeyan, last month allowing them to open vaults. But there has been no response from the authorities. “Without their nod, we can’t break open the sealed doors,” said D Bosco Alangar Raj, secretary of the trust.
Local body authorities, on the other hand, maintained that they were bound by rules. “As per government norms, we are allowed to unseal the vault only once in 13 years,” said a senior Corporation official. Pointing out to the serious crisis that the community is facing to bury its dead, Alangar Raj said the authorities should provide poromboke land for burial if special permission cannot be granted to open the vaults once in seven years.
The once-sprawling cemeteries began feeling the shortage in the last decade or so. The Kilpauk cemetery even had to shut down 11 years ago for the same reason, after which burials were limited to those families that have space. Relatives of the deceased had a tough time in finding a burial ground amid all grief and trauma that followed their deaths.
With the cemeteries at Foreshore Estate, Purasawalkam, St Thomas Mount and Poonamallee too, reaching full capacity, families have to travel all the way to Kasimedu, the only Corporation-run crematorium with hardly 15 per cent space left.
Alangar Raj added that with hardly any space left in the five-acre Kasimedu cemetery - only to accommodate 150-200 more bodies, there will be a crisis among the Christian community in coming months to bury their dead.