After TNM’s status check in Chennai’s burial grounds revealed that they have turned into waste dumping yards, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) Commissioner J Radhakrishnan has launched a cleaning drive. The drive, which began on Saturday, August 26 at the Krishnampet burial ground in Teynampet, will cover all 42 burial grounds located within city limits.
Speaking to TNM, Radhakrishnan said, “We conducted an inspection following [TNM’s] report and carried out cleaning works at the Krishnampet burial ground for six hours on Saturday. The work will continue across the 15 zones in Chennai and we will complete it soon.” Previously, Chennai Mayor R Priya had promised action when speaking to TNM. “The complaints are justified. The concerns regarding MCC units functioning inside burial grounds are understandable,” she had said.
Between July and August 2023, TNM visited close to 10 crematoriums and burial grounds across Chennai city and found that several of them were ill-kept. Micro Composting Centres (MCC) are functioning in 30 burial grounds. In addition to emitting an unpleasant odour, 100-120 Battery Operated Vehicles (BOV) regularly shuttle in and out of the compounds to support the infrastructure. The BOVs were even dumping dry waste next to graves. Families visiting the burial grounds to pay respects to their loved ones complained of the practice being “insensitive” and “disturbing.”
Sameer, a researcher from Arappor Iyakkam in Chennai has visited around 41 MCCs in 10 out of the 15 zones in GCC, including the ones within burial grounds. “In most places, there is very little distance between the composting centres and the burial or cremation areas. In Adambakkam burial ground, there is a good distance, but when I visited, they had used up that space for the drying process,” he told TNM.