Thursday, February 25, 2010

[ZESTCaste] Dalits protest demanding land for cremation

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/54735/dalits-protest-demanding-land-cremation.html

Dalits protest demanding land for cremation
Mangalore, Feb 24, DHNS:

Malavur Gram Panchayat witnessed a unique protest by Dalit members on
Wednesday.


The Dalits, led by Dalit Sangharsha Samiti, gheraoed the Panchayat
seeking a site to cremate the body of a Dalit woman who died on
Tuesday. Tensed moments prevailed in the Panchayat premises when the
protesting Dalits made arrangements to cremate the woman's body right
in front of the Panchayat building in Malavur.

The protesters said they lost their crematorium in Ambedkar Nagar when
about an acre of land in the area was acquired for the Bajpe airport a
few years back; since then they were depending on private land
holdings in their neighbourhood for last rites.

"There are about 50 families of Dalits in Ambedkar Nagar, which have
no facility to cremate in case of deaths. We have been demanding some
space for the purpose for the past five years, but the urge has fallen
on deaf ears," the protesters alleged.

"During a meeting on January 16, the authorities had assured that we
would be allotted a site for crematorium within 10 days, but nothing
has happened so far. Gulabi, a 45-year-old cancer patient died on
Tuesday but the family could not cremate the body since there was no
space. We had no other option than deciding to cremate the body in
front of the Gram Panchayat building," said a Dalit leader.

The protesters had prepared for the last rites, arranging firewood,
flowers and other materials. However, learning about the incident,
Mangalore Tahsildar Ravichandra Naik arrived on the spot, only to be
gheraoed by the protesters.

The Tahsildar promised the protesters that he would show a site for
crematorium within half-an-hour and began searching some government
land in the area. The search went on till 2.30 pm but in vein. The
officials could not find any vacant government land, which further
enraged the protesters.

Finally, the Tahsildar said he had negotiated with the owner of a
private land in the area to allow the Dalits to observe the last rites
for the dead in a portion of his land until a solution is drawn to
their problem. The body of Gulabi was cremated in the private land
identified by the Tahsildar in the afternoon.

Survey on March 10

Speaking to Deccan Herald, Naik said a survey will be conducted in
Ambedkar Nagar on March 10 to find out whether there is any land
available for the cremation.

"It is true their land has been acquired for the airport but there is
another crematorium in the adjacent Kenjar village at a distance of
one kilometre. However, they are not ready to use it," he said.

"Whatever land available in the area is 'patta' land which can not be
allotted for the purpose. We hope that at least 10 cents of vacant
land can be identified after the survey," he said.


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