The gap in critical infrastructure between the newly added outer zones and the core areas of the city includes the need for a place for the dead to be laid to rest. To fix this, the State government has allotted four parcels of land to develop new burial grounds and electric crematoriums, but all in the north west and north east parts of the city.
This has led to discontent among citizens, councillors and experts, who argue against no land being allotted to the south-eastern parts of the city, which have seen the most dense growth of urban sprawl in recent times and are in dire need of new burial grounds.
Acting on a request from the Mayor for land for new burial grounds, Chief Secretary T.M. Vijay Bhaskar had directed the Bengaluru Urban district administration to allot parcels of land to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike to develop new burial grounds and crematoriums on the city’s outskirts. Following this, the district administration allotted four parcels of land in Kudaregere, near Soladevanahalli, Hullegowdanahalli and Shivanapura, off Nelamangala Road – all three in north-west Bengaluru, with two acres in each case — and another one-acre parcel in Bagalur, in north-east Bengaluru.
“The land parcels are in the process of being transferred to us. We will soon take up development of burial grounds and electric crematoriums on these lands,” said BBMP Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad.
However, echoing the ground reality in most newly developed areas in south-east and south Bengaluru, Jagadish Reddy, a civic activist with Varthur Rising, said, “We are facing a severe shortage of burial grounds and crematoriums. The burial grounds of the erstwhile villages are saturated and are not able to serve the sea of new population settled in these areas.”
Councillors also agree. M. K. Gunashekhar, who in his 2017-18 civic budget had prepared a roadmap for the overhaul of existing burial grounds and the development of new ones in the outer zones, said it is the south-east parts of the city that require new burial grounds most.
V. Ravichandar, a former member of the BBMP Restructuring Committee that spatially mapped the city, said it is evident that the city has grown most dense and fastest in the south-eastern parts and that there is a time lag between development and infrastructure, including water, sewerage network, parks and burial grounds. “Growth has been determined by market forces. People choose to live or work there and the government needs to take cognisance of that while determining where they should be laid to rest, instead of being guided by where land is more easily available,” he said.
Responding to this, Mayor Gangambike Mallikarjun said while the civic body has set aside ₹40 crore for developing burial grounds and crematoriums in the outer zones, it would start with the four parcels of land now allotted. She added that she would request for more land allotment in south-east Bengaluru.
