Each day brings with it back-breaking work for Sowmya (20), a gravedigger at Hebbal burial ground. She grew up here, as her father was a gravedigger, and took over following his death.
“Both my grandfather and father were gravediggers. I live with the two other gravediggers at the burial ground,” Soumya said. She is among the hundreds of gravediggers who live in abysmal conditions in the city.
According to a modest estimate, there are around 700 gravediggers, most of whom are employed in 68 burial grounds that come under the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), and the rest in 32 burial grounds that are still under the control of panchayats.
Meena Muniraju is another gravedigger who works in Hebbal burial ground. She said that the police drop off unclaimed bodies in varying degrees of decomposition at the burial ground. “With no safety gear, we have to bodily lift the corpse and bury it. Many of us have developed skin diseases due to this and constant exposure to the elements,” she said.
The children of gravediggers grow up in the burial grounds, playing often on the graves. Most of them drop out of school, since their parents cannot afford their education.
Sathya S. (22) grew up in the burial ground and had to drop out of an undergraduate course after her father Shouri Raj was suddenly removed from his job at Kalpalli. “I have five younger siblings. I had to drop out after my father lost his job. Two of my siblings also dropped out subsequently. Three younger siblings aged between 13 and six years are now going to school,” she said and added that she wants to study further.
The gravediggers’ work is usually passed down through generations. Shouri Raj, who until recently was a gravedigger, said, “We are not given any benefits. We were to get Rs. 1,000 a month, but have not received any payment for the past five years. We eke out a living by taking the clothes and offering off the dead bodies.”
Meanwhile, BBMP Commissioner M. Lakshminarayan said that these gravediggers are informal employees and promised to look into the non-payment of the honorarium.
Prof. N.V. Narasimhaiah, honorary president of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Dalit Sangharsha Samiti, said, “These gravediggers are most exploited and discriminated against. When they step out of the burial ground, they are looked upon with suspicion and disdain by others.”
The samiti urged BBMP to conduct a survey on their living condition and recognise them as Group D employees and offer basic facilities besides ensuring that children of gravediggers are covered under Right to Education Act.
