Garbage swamps in domain of the dead in Bangalore

It’s a place where the last rites of the dead are performed. The Wilson Garden crematorium and cemetery, which deputy mayor N Dayanand visited on Tuesday, however, was a sorry place to perform funereal rites. There were weeds growing unchecked; worse, garbage strewn across.

Walking about in the 25-acre site of the graveyard and crematorium at Wilson Garden, deputy mayor Dayanand remarked that the space had little of the serenity and natural beauty that ought to go with a site where people say their last goodbyes to the dear departed.

“Imagine this, people come here to perform last rites for the people they love, and snakes and insects could welcome them. There is hardly any space next to the samadhi where a pooja can be conducted,” said Chandrashekar K, a resident of Wilson Garden.

“Even drinking water is not available for people who come here,” he added.

Making a thorough inspection, deputy mayor Dayanand instructed that the crematorium and cemetery be cleared of weeds and garbage in a week’s time.

“I have received complaints of the bad condition of the crematorium. We need to have an environment that will allow relatives of the dead to conduct the final rites in peace,” said Dayanand.

Summoning the BBMP’s environment engineer, the deputy mayor sought to know why such a space lay so terribly neglected. The official answered that the BBMP was short-staffed, and that there were not enough hands to clean the crematoria in the city and maintain the cemetaries.

“Staff recruitment will be done, but this is no answer for such negligence,” the mayor said.

Later, Dayanand, along with corporator BV Ganesh, inspected the crematorium near TR Mills in Chamarajpet. “The Palike has stopped the electrical cremation facility here, after residents complained against it; but cremating a body on a pyre takes much longer,” said Dhanush K, who was present at the site for the rites of a deceased relative.

Officials said that residents had complained that the electrical facility was leaving a foul smell. “The cremation is done using a traditional pyre, and we have provided grills so that the logs are used to the optimum,” said a Palike official.

Corporator Ganesh said that the electric crematorium was also more expensive for the Palike to maintain.