When grieving families enter Bengaluru's crematoriums, they are met with heaps of garbage and a putrid smell. The responsibility for maintaining the 12 crematoriums lies with Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the city's civic body. When TNM visited four of these crematoriums, workers alleged that civic authorities ignored the numerous complaints to address the deplorable conditions.
The Kallahalli electrical crematorium located in Sarvagnanagar can only be reached by passing through the Kallahalli cemetery. Both the cemetery and crematorium suffer from irregular garbage collection by the BBMP. While the person in charge at the cemetery said BBMP workers came in twice a week to collect the garbage, multiple graves were covered in garbage. Without any dustbin in sight, paper plates, glass bottles, earthen pots, clothes, mattresses, garlands and more were dumped on the graves.
“I have complained multiple times to the BBMP authorities about daily garbage collection and installation of dustbins. They say they will do it, but it has never been done so far. It is usually the other workers and I who try to maintain the place by sweeping and collecting the garbage in one place for it to be thrown away later,” said the person managing the cemetery.
Similarly, the crematorium is plagued with garbage problems. Though it has garbage bins, they are poorly maintained, with one overflowing and the other broken, leading to trash spilling out. The person in charge here said the BBMP workers used to collect garbage once a week, but they have not visited for a month, and complaints have yielded no results.
“No one listens to us at the BBMP office, whom do we even complain to? I have made several complaints about the state of the dustbins and the garbage collection to my seniors but they do not take any action. They had changed the broken dustbin to a new one a few months ago after I complained about it, but shortly after they replaced it again with a broken one and I was given no explanation for this,” the crematorium’s person in charge said.
Garbage bins at Kallahalli Crematorium
The persons managing the Kallahalli cemetery and the crematorium said that there are no functional toilets for the public or the staff on the property. The toilets that do exist do not have a water facility, which restricts their usage and hence have been locked. “The plumbing of those toilets is the same from when it was built in the ‘80s. The pipes have become old and broken in many spots and therefore the water never reaches the toilets,” said the crematorium’s manager. Another woman working at the crematorium said that the lack of toilets for staff had been really difficult for her since she could not leave her office every now and then to go to her home.
Another crematorium that TNM visited was the Kudlu gate crematorium near Electronic City. This facility was located beside a BBMP garbage dump, which made the crematorium stink. Despite being located beside a dump, with multiple garbage collection vehicles lined outside, the workers at the facility said that BBMP workers never showed up to collect their garbage. This facility too had a massive heap of garbage of its own, and its grounds were also littered. The workers have taken it upon themselves to clean the place and dispose of the garbage, burning it to prevent further accumulation.
“It is usually the other workers and I who take the responsibility of cleaning the place and disposing of the garbage. I have been working here for almost 13 years and they have never come to collect the garbage, the situation has always been like this. We gather the garbage in a pile and burn it to prevent it from accumulating. Generally, it is the sweepers who come sometimes and they sweep the road but that’s about it,” a worker at the Kudlu gate facility said.
BBMP's garbage dump beside Kudlu Gate Crematorium
The workers’ main concern was about the facility being right beside a dump, for which they had also raised an alarm. They said that since they lived on the facility with their children, the smell could negatively impact their health. They also said that the facility lacked toilets for public use and added that while the civic authorities began construction for one after receiving several complaints, they never finished building it.
Incomplete toilets in Kudlu Gate Crematorium
Similar complaints were received from workers when TNM visited the Wilson Garden and Banashankari crematoriums. The Wilson Garden crematorium was in a dilapidated state with chunks of concrete falling off from the ceiling and exposing its steel structure. Along with a garbage pile right beside the entrance, almost every potted plant had water bottles and paper plates thrown in them. The crematorium also housed a discarded bathtub filled with garbage.
Attempts to reach BBMP officials went unanswered. TNM will update the copy if they do.
Watch: Bengaluru’s crematoriums littered with garbage