Dalits protest against lack of cremation ground

Dalits protest against lack of cremation ground

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, Feb 25: The Dalit Sangarshana Samithi staged a protest in front of the Malavur Gram Panchayat, demanding a site to cremate the body of a Dalit woman, who breathed her last on Tuesday. The atmosphere was tense for several moments when the agitated Dalits made cremation arrangements right in front of the Panchayat building. 

Claiming that their cremation ground was lost when 1 acre of land was acquired for the Bajpe Airport, the Dalits said that they were forced to conduct their final rites on private land. The protestors said that about 50 Dalit families lived in Ambedkar Nagar and they had no facility to conduct their final rites. They alleged that the authorities concerned had been ignoring their repeated pleas for a cremation ground. 

The protesting Dalits also said that the authorities concerned promised to allot a piece of land during a meeting held on Jan 16, but they have not kept their promises so far. A Dalit leader said that they had decided to cremate Gulabi, a 45-year old woman who died of cancer, in front of the Panchayat building because they had no other place to cremate her. 

As soon as he heard about this incident, Ravichandra Naik, the tahsildar of Mangalore, rushed to the spot and the protestors immediately surrounded him. Mr. Naik promised to find some vacant government land immediately. However, in spite of searching, the officials could not find any vacant government land; and this enraged the Dalit protestors further. 

Finally, the Tahsildar got into an agreement with a land owner, who said that the Dalits could use part of his land as a cremation ground till a solution is found for the problem. The body of Gulabi was cremated on this ground in the afternoon. 

Mr. Naik told reporters that a survey will be conducted on March 10 to identify vacant land that can be used as a cremation grond. Admitting that the Dalits’ cremation ground had been acquired for Bajpe Airport, he said that the Dalits were not willing to use the crematorium in Kenjar Village, which is about 1 km away. He also said that, since most of the available land in Ambedkar Nagar is ‘patta’ land, it could not be used as a crematorium. The tahsildar hopes that the survey would reveal the availability of at least 10 cents land that can be used as a Dalit cremation ground.