Vishrantwadi Muslims, Christians demand burial grounds as other cemeteries far off
Vishrantwadi Muslims, Christians demand burial grounds as other cemeteries far off
The Muslim and the Christian communities in Vishrantwadi are unhappy with the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). For the last six years, both the communities have been asking for land allotment for burial grounds in Vishrantwadi. According to them, since there are no burial grounds at Vishrantwadi, they have to travel all the way to Yerawada or Hadapsar, almost 15 km away.
Vishrantwadi has a population of 1.5 to 2 lakh Muslims and Christians.
Hussein Qureshi, the founder of Indian Muslim Front (IMF), and Father Vishal Gadkari said that the burial grounds at Yerawada and Hadapsar have become overcrowded making fresh burial difficult. They find bones at times that make it difficult for them to bury their family.
They even questioned why the PMC was not allotting land for them.
Morcha in the city
The former PMC corporator Madhukar Jakkal has taken up the issue with the PMC. He headed a morcha yesterday from Vishrantwadi to the PMC head office in Shivaji Nagar and met the PMC commissioner Mahesh Zagade along with the leaders of both the communities.
Zagade assured Jakkal that the issue would be settled on Friday after discussions with the landowners of Vishrantwadi where the burial land is proposed.
"Our efforts are on to convince the commissioner and compel him to give the land near the Hindu crematorium in Vishrantwadi," said Jakkal.
"When the state government has already given a green signal six years back, then why is PMC still sitting on the issue?" When the city has better roads, water supply and health care facilities, then why not a burial land for Muslims and Christians? The landowners in Vishrantwadi are ready to hand over the land to us for the purpose," he added.
Zagade said that there is no reservation for burial land at Vishrantwadi area and the land belongs to some private party. "We will expedite the process if the land owners are willing to handover the land to PMC for burial purpose," he assured. "We should get some time for land acquisition as well," he said.
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