Make better use of old grounds: Chavan

Considering the increasing urbanisation and the lack of land in cities for burial grounds, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said apart from providing the required reservations for land, communities need to consider using existing grounds better.

Considering the increasing urbanisation and the lack of land in cities for burial grounds, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said apart from providing the required reservations for land, communities need to consider using existing grounds better.

The issue was raised in the legislative council, on Wednesday, by Congress legislator Jayprakash Chhajed, who cited the problem faced by Muslims living in the City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra Ltd area in Nashik.

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“There is no space left. Some brought bodies to the Nashik municipal corporation in protest since they have not been allotted the required land,” he said. He demanded for a committee to be formed by guardian minister Chhagan Bhujbal.

BJP legislator Pasha Patel pointed out that the issue was not restricted to Nashik. “There should be a policy-level decision on what should be done to solve the space problem,” Patel said.

Congress corporator Sayyed Jama said a curfew was declared on the issue in cities such as Nagpur, where religious organisations decided to exhume the bodies and re-use the grounds.

Chavan said the government had, in December 2010, written to all civic bodies, councils and authorities to provide space according to the population in the development plans of cities.

Minister of State for urban development, Bhaskar Jadhav, said the state will make sure burial grounds are planned taking a 25-year period into concern. “But Muslim brothers need to take tough decisions on this,” he added.