TIRUCHY: The death of a loved one is bound to cause anguish, but for residents of Settipatti near Thuvarankurichi -- particularly a few farmers -- it is a given with any villager’s passing as the pall-bearers and the accompanying procession are left with no option but to carry the dead through their fields in order to reach the cremation ground some two kilometres away.
Unsure how long the practice has been in existence owing to the absence of a proper pathway to the cremation ground, villagers simply call it “a very long time”. P Karuppaih (59), a resident, recalled how even during his childhood days a corpse would be carried to the cremation ground through farmlands, stamping on the standing crops.
"We had no other way to carry the body, but we felt bad every time we step over the crops en route to the cremation ground," he added. A few village elders who have been part of the funeral processions express sympathy for the landowners on whose farms they tread, unmindful of their opposition. The authorities concerned should have provided us an alternative path to carry the bodies.
They have not bothered to look into it despite the several complaints and petitions, they said. Another villager, K Vijayakumar (34), pointed to the opposition by landowners having grown stronger over the days. "We have never used an ambulance or a hearse as it is not practically possible," he added.
"Around 500 families reside in the village and all of us have only this cremation ground," he said, while demanding an urgent solution to the issue to hold peaceful funeral procession. When contacted, Srirangam RDO Vaithiyanathan, while admitting the issue to have been prevalent for long, said the original pathway to the cremation ground changed somehow. "We have to resolve the issue by holding talks with the landowners for the time being and then come up with a permanent solution," he added.