Delhi: SDMC, ITO graveyard admin at odds over space crunch

The graveyard management said that it had to turn away two bodies last week, and send them to the facility at north-west Delhi’s Mangolpuri on the city’s outskirts. This has triggered a tussle with SDMC

The space earmarked for burying Covid victims at the ITO graveyard, one of the Delhi’s biggest cemeteries for Muslims, is full with the management saying that it had to turn away two bodies last week, and send them to the facility at north west Delhi’s Mangolpuri on the city’s outskirts.

1,350 bodies have been laid to rest in the Covid section of the ITO graveyard in the last two years, an official said. (ANI)

This, however, has now triggered a tussle with the South Delhi Municipal Corporation. The civic body has told the graveyard management that it cannot turn away people, and has threatened to issue a show cause notice.

Delhi recorded 40 Covid deaths on Wednesday, the most in a single day since June 10 last year, when the Capital recorded 44 deaths, and took the city’s overall pandemic toll to 25,240.

The ITO burial ground management said they had to turn away the bodies since the 5-acre section of the graveyard marked to bury those who die of Covid has no space left to dig more graves. The ITO graveyard is spread over 45 acres.

Mohammad Shamim, supervisor of the Covid section, said, “Over the last two years, 1,350 bodies have been laid to rest here. There is no more space left and we were forced to accommodate a few more dead-bodies last year by clearing bushes. We had to ask the family members to take the dead bodies to other facility,” he added.

Shamim Ahmed Khan, secretary of the managing committee, Qabristan Ahle Islam, ITO, said the committee has got an additional 4 acres space near the Millennium Park on the Ring Road last year, but the plan got stuck due to lack of police permission.

“We are willing to provide manpower and other services, if that section is allowed for burials. There is no space left in the Covid section. Normally, we level up a part of the burial ground after 4-5 years to create more space but even that cannot be carried out in this case due to Covid. When hospitals are calling us to send more dead bodies, we are forced to advise them to divert them to other four facilities. We also need to take care of normal bodies coming mostly from old Delhi,” he added. Besides, ITO, Covid victims are buried at Mangolpuri, Madanpur Khadar, Okhla and Shastri Park.

An SDMC official said the burial grounds are managed by the Delhi Waqf board, but Section 392 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act empowers the municipal commissioner to route the bodies to any such facility.

“The management is in violation of Section 392 of DMC Act by refusing to take dead bodies of Covid patients. They cannot differentiate between Covid and non-Covid bodies. We are planning to issue a show cause notice after which further action will be taken,” the official said asking not to be named.

Last year, burials at Buland Masjid in east Delhi’s Shastri Park also had to be stopped due to space constraints. EDMC mayor Shyam Sunder Aggarwal said they have got an additional space of 2,000 square metres from the Delhi Development Authority, near the Buland Masjid site to prevent a crisis. “Our public health department is working with the graveyard management to increase the capacity,” the mayor said.

The annual report on registration of birth and deaths in Delhi shows that around for 10% of annual deaths burial grounds are used. According to the 2020 report, a total of 142,789 deaths were registered in the city, of which 124,965 were Hindus, 13,103 Muslims, 2,365 Sikhs, 513 Christians and 1,843 were registered in others category.

Delhi Waqf board, which oversees most burial grounds, has demanded more space to ease the burden on city’s burial grounds. Chairman of the board, Amanatullah Khan, said there are around 45 active graveyards in the national capital, of which five have been allocated for Covid victims.

“In case of the ITO burial ground, the Waqf Board has granted permission to use an alternative plot near Indraprastha Ring Road, but the matter is now stuck with the police. The issue of shortage of space at many burial grounds is a reality, and thus more sites should be allocated,” he added.