Mumbai runs out of space for its dead
3:30 PM Monday Aug 15, 2011
An Indian worker digs a non-permanent grave at a cemetery on the grounds of St
Andrew's Church in Bandra, one of the oldest Roman Catholic places of worship
in Mumbai. Photo / AFP
Simple marble gravestones lie flat in the grounds of St Andrew's Church in
Bandra, one of the oldest Roman Catholic places of worship in the Indian city
of Mumbai.
The names on the tombs bear witness to the city's Portuguese heritage, as a
groundsman sweeps wet leaves from generations of Da Silvas, D'Souzas, Pintos,
Pereiras, Furtados and Fonsecas.
Behind the white-washed church, are newer, much smaller memorials, stacked on
top of one another like drawers in a high perimeter wall bordering the sea.
Inside these "niches" are the mortal remains of the more recently deceased,
whose bones have been disinterred and replaced by those who have died in the
last year or two.
The spiralling cost of land and its lack of availability is a major issue for
the estimated 18 million people crammed into India's financial and
entertainment capital.
But increasingly, the squeeze is affecting the city's dead, prompting changes
in centuries-old rituals, forcing up the cost of burials or leading to
practical solutions to tackle space constraints.
"It's an issue in all the churches. There's a lack of space," admitted Father
Michael Goveas, a parish priest at St Andrew's, where flattened tombstones are
found even in the corridors leading to the main church.
"We're no longer giving permission for permanent graves. Anyone who has a
permanent (family) plot can still utilise them. For everyone else, we give
niches," he told AFP.
The lack of burial space, a growing problem for minority Christians and Muslims
in India's fast-growing big cities as well as many countries around the world,
is particularly acute in Mumbai.
The local authorities estimate there is just 1.3 square feet (0.12 square
metres) of green open space per person, making it one of the most
densely-populated places in the world.
One solution submitted last year to the US-based Council on Tall Buildings and
Urban Habitat suggested building a tower, with space for Christian and Muslim
burials and Hindu cremations.
The idea's thrust was that traditional solutions were unlikely to succeed, as
older churches - and even the newer, state-run public cemeteries in outlying
districts - stop providing graves in perpetuity.
"Cemeteries have a system where they don't leave the bodies for more than two
years. Then the bones are moved to an ossuary," said Father Anthony Charanghat,
spokesman for the Archdiocese of Bombay.
One significant consequence of the space crunch is the increasing number of
Catholics opting for cremation - the norm amongst Hindus - which was once
viewed by the Church as a denial of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
"You used to have to get permission (to be cremated)," said Father Michael.
"Now, it's becoming more widespread... The idea that if you burn there's no
resurrection doesn't exist any more.
"If you're buried or burnt, it's the same thing."
Demand for burial plots has led some city churches to advocate the use of linen
shrouds or coffins made from plywood to speed up the decomposition process,
said Dolphy D'Souza, from the Bombay Catholic Sabha, a community group.
"With the sizeable increase in population and lack of space, [burial] has
become very difficult and the turnaround has become something like 18 months
after the body is buried," he added.
"Sometimes they have to rush it through."
Protracted disputes have also raged over the allocation of new land reserved
for burials and over the building of walls to house the disinterred bones, he
added.
Undertakers say that the cost of the diminishing number of burial plots
available on a 30-year lease in private cemeteries has gone up in line with
sky-rocketing real estate prices.
Funeral director Dion Pinto said a basic 6.5 by three foot (1.99 by 0.9 metre)
plot has risen as much as five fold in recent years.
"Six or seven years ago it was about 5000 rupees ($132) for a plot. Now it's
gone up. It's like the property rates," he added.
The situation is met with resignation by many Muslims, who face a similar
squeeze on burial space.
At Bada Qabrastan, the city's largest Muslim cemetery where some 5000 people
are laid to rest beneath coconut trees, rose bushes and trellises with creeping
plants, officials are matter-of-fact.
"Any Muslim can be buried here, providing they have the right paperwork from
the municipal authorities," said Shakil Ahmed Shabazker, who manages the
cemetery spread over eight acres of prime real estate in south Mumbai.
"Unmarked graves of unclaimed bodies are dug up after a year. We shift the
bones to one side respectfully and dig in the same place," he added.
- AAP
