When residents tried to bury a body in the graveyard, the builder called the police, leading to protests.
On Tuesday morning, 32-year-old Balasubramanian, a resident of Anna colony in Coimbatore district, was accompanying the procession for his deceased aunt to a local graveyard in Thudiyalur, when he was stopped. Nilgiri Garden property developers, a real estate company who had purchased the land adjoining this graveyard had called the police and alleged that the land was being illegally used for burial of bodies.
Angered by this, over 100 persons from the locality began to protest and only dispersed after the police intervened, promising action. Three localities in Thudiyalur – Muthunagar, Gandhi Nagar, Anna colony – which have large Dalit settlements, have been using this burial ground for close to 80 years. And the real estate developer’s actions, they allege, is discriminatory.
“There are 1,800 families in these three areas put together and we have been using this graveyard for decades,” says Balasubramanian. “These real estate developers only purchased the land this year and began work. They are stopping us from using that land so that the apartments they are building are not affected. They are scared that prices will go down because of the burial ground,” he alleges.
Speaking to TNM, Mohan, a manager in Nilgiri Garden, alleges that the land where burials are underway is not a graveyard as per documents available with the district administration.
“Before we bought the land, we filed an RTI with the Revenue department which clearly showed that the adjoining area is not alloted for burials. But in March when we were beginning work, some local men came and demanded money from us if we didn’t want any problems. After that, for the last few months there were no burials,” says Mohan. “But on Tuesday alone, two groups came to bury bodies. We called the police and we have filed a complaint. In addition to this, we have also sent a petition to the District Collector regarding this,” he adds.
Residents however allege that they are being falsely accused of extortion and targeted by the real estate developer.
When TNM contacted the Revenue district officer Suresh Kumar regarding the allegation, he maintained an investigation into the issue is underway.
“The current map of the area may not show that it is a graveyard but this could be an issue of reclassification. We have to check the map for the last 60 years to see if it is a burial ground,” he says. “We will talk to both sides and ensure that matter is resolved.”
Source: The News Minute