Taskforce in offing to sort out burial ground row
Eight months after the problem first surfaced in January, the burial ground crisis in Kathmandu Valley is soon likely to see the light of day.
The Ministry of Culture last week decided to form a taskforce to sort out problems related to the burial ground crisis. The committee, as would be mandated, will propose appropriate alternative locations to use as burial grounds in the Valley.
After the Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT) banned burial activities in the Sleshmantak and Bankali forests on the Pashupatinath temple premises, the people from the Kirat and Christian communities had staged protests against the government, demanding an alternative burial space. PADT had argued that burial is an activity, considered impure in Hindu religion, and hence such activities should be banned on its premises.
Despite mounting pressure from the respective communities, the government had not been able to allocate any alternative locations as burial grounds. “Due to the government’s delay in addressing the problem, a section of the Christian community living in Kathmandu have been compelled to take the bodies to districts including Dhading and Nuwakot for the after-death rituals,” said CB Gahatraj, secretary of Christian Committee on Constitution.
“Now that the government has decided to address the issue of burial ground by forming a committee, we must say, at least a step has been taken. However, we are yet to see if the problem really gets addressed at the earliest.”
“The ministry has realised the need to address this problem at the earliest,” said Joint Spokesman Jhamak Prasad Sharma. “The taskforce to be formed within this week will accommodate the people representing the respective communities as well.” The committee will present a report by December.
“The major task of this committee is to find an alternative burial ground and report to the ministry within three months,” he said.
Posted on: 2011-09-25 08:35
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