Thane has a Christian population of over 50,000 with only one cemetery at Teen petrol pump.
The lack of burial space has once again come to cause inconvenience to the Christian community of Thane. Six parishes in Thane were asked to opt for either shroud burial or shift bodies to Mumbai.
St. John the Baptist church on December 27, 2017, issued a notice to six parishes in Thane asking them to stop burying their departed loved ones in coffins. "In view of the non-decomposition of bodies, we strictly recommend you to instruct your parishioners to have shroud burials, otherwise we will have to move the bodies for burials to Mumbai and that will only increase cost and other difficulties," reads the notice by Father Gerry Fernandes, parish priest from St John, Thane.
Thane has a Christian population of over 50,000 with only one cemetery at Teen petrol pump.
There are only 60 to 70 graves in the cemetery and it takes over 18 months for a body to decompose when buried in a coffin.
The order has caused confusion among parishioners. "Last Sunday Father Jerry from St John church told us that there is no place for burials here and we will have to take bodies to Mumbai. This will cause a lot of hardship to our community members. Hope there is some way out," said Fredrick Sequeira, Kalwa. This means that if one has to take a body for burial to Mumbai they need to take police permission from Thane, a no-objection certificate (NOC)) from Mumbai police, permission at the toll naka along with the added cost of travel.
Even Melwyn Fernandes, joint secretary, Our Lady of Mercy church, Pokharan road said "Excluding our church, all have been asked to shift burials to Mumbai. How can that be possible? The situation could have been totally different had they made the new cemetery that was promised to us by the TMC."
"Coffins made of teakwood and other material take three years to decompose and there is limited space in our cemetery. Moreover we have observed that modern medicine has also delayed the process of decomposition," added Father Jerry.
He said that the church is looking at various options so that the deceased get a dignified burial. "We tried injecting the earth with medicines to fasten the process of decomposition but it failed. So now we will try to renew earth in the cemetery to see if it helps. Till then shroud burial is the only available option or people have to take their departed loved ones to Mumbai. In my personal opinion cremation is also another option which is permitted by the church," he adds.
This announcement will affect six churches in Thane - Lady of Mercy church, St Thomas church in Vartak Nagar, San Jose church Srinagar, St Lawrence church at D'souzawadi, St Anthony church at Kalwa and Holy Trinity church.
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