After years of requests to upgrade the pathetic conditions of the city’s graveyards, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has finally decided to construct toilets and install RO water systems in 150 graveyards.
Most of the city’s graveyards lack water facilities and families of the dead have to buy their own water.
In addition, the families of the gravediggers, who live inside the cemeteries and crematoriums have not been provided with drinking water for decades now.
The Palike has also announced that 200 houses will be constructed for the “graveyard workers”.
Bengaluru Mayor G Padmavati, BBMP Commissioner Manjunath Prasad and Joint Commissioner of Solid Waste Management, Sarfaraz Khan, visited the city’s graveyards a few weeks ago and took stock of the living conditions of the workers’ families.
“The Karnataka Social Welfare Department and the BBMP are working together on this project. The development project includes construction of houses, toilets and provision of reverse osmosis (RO) plants. The workers living in these cemeteries will be issued health cards and the BBMP will ensure that the children living there are provided education,” Mayor Padmavati said.
According to Anthonyammal, a worker at the Kalpalli Cemetery in Sarvagnynagar, the monthly amount they get from the Palike is only Rs 1,000.
“This is not the first time they made such promises. Once in a year or once in two years, they (BBMP) announce some sort of scheme to help us. We don’t believe that they will do anything to improve our conditions. Apart from the Rs 1,000 we get, the people who come here give us some token amount for every grave we dig. This is the only way we can earn. Let them construct toilets and houses first. Announcing it and not doing anything about it will not change much,” she added.
Joint Commissioner Sarfaraz Khan said that the workers’ wages will be increased and they will get Rs 17,000 per month henceforth.
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