Coimbatore : There are no words to describe the inhumane act of humiliating a mourning family by denying them access to use common roads to carry the departed ones to the burial site, citing caste reasons. Even in 2019, we are to be reminded of the poem written by great Tamil Poet Subramaniya Bharathiar, which says:
Coimbatore : There are no words to describe the inhumane act of humiliating a mourning family by denying them access to use common roads to carry the departed ones to the burial site, citing caste reasons. Even in 2019, we are to be reminded of the poem written by great Tamil Poet Subramaniya Bharathiar, which says:
சாதிகள் இல்லையடி பாப்பா! - குலத்
தாழ்ச்சி உயர்ச்சி சொல்லல் பாவம்!
நீதி, உயர்ந்தமதி, கல்வி - அன்பு
நிறைய உடையவர்கள் மேலோர்.
In English it means, "We shall not look at caste or religion. All human beings in this land irrespective of caste shall be treated as one"
However, the social injustice meted out to the voiceless (dalits) in the city of Coimbatore by humiliating them even while mourning makes us wonder, if ever such inhumane acts would be quashed from the society..?
Vilankurichi, an area which comes well within the Corporation limits has three graveyards - two for caste Hindus and one for Dalits. With the Dalit's having 'Nil' road access to their graveyard.
Standing completely clueless and at loss of words, we further spoke to more residents to understand the ugly reality prevailing in Vilankurichi's 32nd ward. About 90 families belonging to the Arunthathiyar community live at Lenin Nagar. The list of basic facilities that the colony lacks is a long one and among the list is the shocking truth of no direct road access to the burial ground alloted to them.
The issue came to light recently after the dalits were denied to use the road to carry one of their dead to perform last rites at their burial ground.
Out of the three burial grounds in Vilankurichi, two are meant for caste Hindus and one for the Dalits living in Lenin Street and Ambedkar Nagar in the same locality. Like Lenin Nagar, Ambedkar Nagar also had about 200 dalit families who were relocated by the City Corporation to the housing units built by Slum Clearance board.
Getting back to the burial grounds, the one which has been allotted to the Dalits is located in 30 cents of land and has been used by the people of Lenin and Ambedkar Street for several decades.
While we were shocked on the ugliness of allocating seperate burial grounds for Caste Hindus and the Dalits, more ugliness erupts after a resident says that they have no path to access their burial ground. Pointing at an open ditch covered with dense bushes, the man says "We walk through the ditch along with the dead to reach our burial ground. There is no path."
"We have always carried our dead through this way. The worst part is the ditch through which we have to carry them. Many times people who accompany for the last rites have slipped and fallen into the ditch covered with drainage water. Now, it has become totally impossible to cross the drain, so we take a detour which takes an extra 2.5 kms to reach the burial ground. Even to do that, we have to cross an agricultural land. Luckily, as the owner is unaware of us using the pathway, we are somehow able to use the route. But once he comes to know, we do not know if he would permit us," says K Raja, an advocate and a resident of Lenin Colony.
He noted that Lenin Street comes under ward 32 and the burial ground belongs to ward 36. People from Ambedkar Nagar also use the same burial ground even though there is a full-fledged crematorium close to Ambedkar Nagar used by caste Hindus.
"We are not asking for a common burial ground for us and the caste Hindus. All we are asking is for proper road access to the burial ground allotted to us, so that we can give a dignified burial to the departed souls", lamented Vinoth, a PG student from Lenin Colony, one among the very few youngsters who has pursued college education.
Even as we stood on the burial ground, we couldn't feel it to be one, as it was a very compact place filled with overgrown bushes. If not for the dried garland lying there, the place would look like any other normal poramboke site.
"I filed an RTI query in 2017 regarding our burial ground and I got a reply saying that the crematorium covers 1.75 acres of land whereas what we have now is only hardly 30 cents," stated Advocate Raja.
Repeated appeals to authorities have not yielded any results according to the youngsters in the community. "We have submitted petitions to the District Collector and to the Assistant Commissioner (East Zone) but till date nothing has changed," stated Vinoth.
When contacted regarding the issue, the Assistant Commissioner (East) M.Selvan said that he was not aware of the issue.
"When they have a grievance, people should approach us and follow up with officials. They need to submit a petition in writing and we will definitely look into the issue," opined the official.
V C Arukutty, MLA, Kavundampalayam assembly constituency under which Vilankurichi falls, stated that Rs.7 lakhs funds were allotted last year from the MLA constituency development fund to address this issue.
"The last financial year, Rs. 7 lakhs was allotted to complete the road work and to build a bridge that leads to the burial ground but since the allotted fund was not enough, an additional Rs.4 lakh fund has been allotted this year and in a matter of 10 days the work will commence," assured the MLA.
When questioned on why should the Dalits be given a separate burial ground when there is already an existing crematorium and a burial ground, the MLA replied that nobody has ever approached him with such a demand and since it is a long-standing tradition, he does not want to interfere.
Even as Coimbatore marches toward being transformed as a Smart City, not providing the Dalit community with a decent place to bury their dead and a pathway to carry their dead in a dignified manner is a shame. More shameful is the fact that they are allotted with a separate burial ground.
The district administration should definitely look into such issues when people petition their demands, rather than following up on priority after the such news hits the headlines and goes viral in social media, opine social activists.