Local initiatives

Published : Apr 08, 2011 00:00 IST

Gasifier at the'samathuva vanam' burial-cum-cremation ground maintained by the Sulur town panchayat. - S. SIVA SARAVANAN

Gasifier at the'samathuva vanam' burial-cum-cremation ground maintained by the Sulur town panchayat. - S. SIVA SARAVANAN

THE Tamil Nadu government introduced with much fanfare the samathuva mayanam (common graveyard) concept during the previous Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam regime with the proclaimed goal of ending all caste-based discrimination at burial-cum-cremation grounds.

An official announcement was made that panchayats which set up samathuva mayanams would get an incentive grant of Rs.1 lakh for promoting communal harmony.

A few panchayats had received the incentive when the government appeared to beat a hasty retreat in the face of stiff resistance from the dominant castes and from status-quoists. The scheme was given a silent burial, and it took a new avatar in the form of the Anna Marumalarchi Thittam for enhancing infrastructure at graveyards in village and town panchayats.

Nevertheless, some local bodies have set up common burial-cum-cremation grounds. The most outstanding among them is the samathuva vanam (garden of equality) established around 13 years ago at Sulur, Coimbatore district, by the then town panchayat president S.R. Thangavelu.

He told Frontline that right from its inception he was keen that the decision should not be imposed on the people. We held consultations with all sections of people and representatives of political parties three times, in 1997 and 1998, before taking up the project. A consensus was evolved to go ahead. The participants also gave the nod to set up the samathuva vanam on the 1.60-acre site of the existing graveyard.

The samathuva vanam took shape within three years. The project was implemented in 1998-2000 at an estimated cost of Rs.4.48 lakh. The entire expenditure was borne by the town panchayat. Against the backdrop of an increasing population, it was decided not to put up any structure in memory of the dead at the ground, and those that were already there were removed. Encroachments were also cleared. After levelling the ground, flowering plants and neem and pungan saplings were planted. Soon the ground presented a new look and could be mistaken for a park. Many people, particularly young couples who came to the adjacent boat club, made it a point to visit the samathuva vanam.

Persons belonging to different communities, including Christians and Muslims, bury their dead here. Bodies are buried in rows. However, we do not prevent people from performing their rituals. Actually, under the new dispensation the town panchayat is implementing a Rs.30-lakh project to set up a modern gasifier for cremation and a hall for conducting rituals. Once the gasifier becomes functional, people from the nearby villages will also use it, Thangavelu said.

Absolute unity among the residents of Sulur, which has a long history of rationalist and communist movements, helped him to remove effortlessly the initial hiccups such as contractors backtracking because of the fear that they would be haunted by ghosts if they removed the memorial stones.

Sulur has a long tradition of adhering to principles and consensus evolved by the people. We have two drinking water ponds in the town. When a decision was taken in the 1970s that farmers should not use the water from these ponds for irrigation, they readily agreed. The harmony prevailing in Sulur has become the cynosure of all eyes, he proudly recalled.

Though he successfully contested the local body elections as an independent and became president of the town panchayat in 1996 and 2001, it was his long association with the communist movement and his progressive ideas that saw him introduce the samathuva vanam concept to Sulur, say his supporters.

A samathuva mayanam exists in Ariyamangalam under Tiruchi Corporation. In Singampunari town panchayat in Sivaganga district, all castes including Dalits, are allowed to bury or cremate their dead in the common graveyard, local people say.

Referring to the government grant, amounting to half the total cost, for municipalities to set up modern crematoriums, former Additional Director of Municipal Administration D.S. Sivasamy said that it would go a long way in ending caste-based discrimination in urban areas.

S. Dorairaj
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