Taskforce to end burial ground row soon
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KATHMANDU, OCT 03 - The Ministry of Culture is all set to form a committee comprising representatives from government bodies as well as Christian, Kirat and Muslim communities tasked with suggesting alternative burial space in the Valley at the earliest.
According to Culture Minstry Joint Spokesman Jhamak Prasad Sharma, the committee will include secretaries for Forests, Land Reforms, Local Development and Culture ministries. The seven-member panel with one-month mandate has KB Rokaya, Kumar Phudung and Anwar Hussain representing the Christian, Kirat and Muslim communities, respectively, as other members.
The committee will propose appropriate alternative locations for burial ground in the Kathmandu valley.
After the Pashupati Area Development Trust banned burial activities in the Sleshmantak and Bankali forests on the Pashupatinath temple premises last December, people from the Kirat and Christian communities have been protesting against the government, demanding an alternative burial space. The Trust had argued that burial is an activity considered impure in Hindu religion, and hence such activities should be banned on its premises.
Despite pressure from respective communities, the government had not been able to allocate any alternative location as burial ground. “Due to the government's delay in addressing the problem, a section of the Christian community living in Kathmandu has been compelled to take the bodies to districts including Dhading and Nuwakot for funeral rituals,” said CB Gahatraj, general secretary of Christian Committee on Constitution.
“The ministry has realised the need to address this problem at the earliest,” said Sharma. “The major task of this committee is to find an alternative burial ground and report to the ministry within a one month.”
Posted on: 2011-10-03 09:55
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