Hyderabad: The shortage of cremation grounds for Hindus is a longstanding problem, but the poor facilities at the grounds is adding to troubles.
At least one cremation ground and a small room for performing rituals should be available for a population of one lakh. Otherwise, there will be a mismatch in the number of deaths and facilities available to cremate the dead, activists said.
“There is no water at many existing places. Many people take bucket and mugs along with them so that they can take a bath at the ground before returning home. There is not enough space for performing rituals. Hardly a handful are properly maintained and that too are run mostly by trusts,” says Dronamraju Ravi Kumar, the president of the All India Brahmin Federation.
The Federation has made several representations to the previous government and the current about the need for constructing small rooms or allocation of space near graveyards for performing annual rituals.
Many Hindus still prefer cremations in the traditional manner due to sentiments about ‘Kapala Moksham.’
“It is only when the sound of the skull breaking is heard that the journey of a human is considered complete. People don’t go home till they hear that sound and the electric or gas-based burials just turn the body into ash in a jiffy and hand it to you. As per Shastras, the traditional method is the correct one,” Mr Ravi Kumar said, explaining why people prefer cremation in open grounds.
Those who want electric crematoria might have to wait as two such crematoria run by the GHMC are not working since a long time due to protests from locals.
A section of Hindus, the Lingayats, bury the dead. Each burial now costs around Rs 15,000 to Rs 30,000 due to scarcity of land. The proposal for providing land for burying the dead of the Lingayat community has been sent to the Deputy CM.
