Jisha Surya
Thiruvananthapuram: It took more than seven years to clear the hurdles involved in the shifting of a portion of a cemetery for the widening of a stretch of the Airport-MLA Hostel Road. Issues ranging from convincing the local residents to clearing the stay on the construction consumed a lot of time.
Now, despite the St Joseph’s Metropolitan Cathedral at Palayam and St Thomas Marthoma Church at Pattoor setting aside their objections and deciding to give way for development, the civic body’s laxity has come in the way of the road widening work. Both churches are yet to get licences from the city corporation to set up alternate cemeteries.
The St Joseph’s church authorities have already started shifting of the mortal remains from their portion of the cemetery is being razed for road widening. However, the Marthoma church authorities are still waiting for corporation nod.
“We have completed the construction of a vault and are waiting for the corporation’s nod. We have submitted a petition to chief minister Oommen Chandy to speed up the process,” said Fr M Samuel, vicar of St Thomas Marthoma Church, Pattoor. St Thomas church will give away 13.5 cents of land for road widening while St Joseph’s church, 23 cents.
However, corporation officials are in the dark about the application. “We are not sure if we have received any application for the new cemetery from the church. We need to check the documents and find out the current status,” said work standing committee chairman V S Padmakumar.
St Thomas church was the first to complete the construction of a new vault which could hold around 300 caskets. But they fear that shifting of corpses without consent would create unnecessary issues.
As many as 480 tombs will be shifted from the 23 cents of land belonging to the St Joseph’s church as part of the work. They have already shifted 16 mortal remains to the newly-constructed vault.
LABOURER SHORTAGE
The St Joseph’s church authorities had a tough time chasing labourers for the tedious and odd job of shifting the mortal remains. The migrant labourers, who were roped in for the work on Sunday, ran away immediately after they realized the nature of the work.
Two north Indian labourers were arranged on Monday, the first day of shifting. According to the church authorities, the workers disappeared when they came to know that the work involved the shifting of mortal remains. “We didn’t get any time to convince them. They immediately ran away,” said Shajan Martin, the parish pastrol council secretary. However, the church managed to get some local workers who exhumed mortal remains and shifted them to the newly-built vaults. Eight tombs were cleared on Sunday. One of the tombs was opened by one Kingsly Rozario, son of a deceased, who volunteered to do the task himself.
“We never thought finding labourers for this job will be so hard,” said parish priest Fr John D Bosco.
However, the church authorities got four local workers who shifted eight corpses on Tuesday. “A total of 16 mortal remains were shifted. We are planning to complete the shifting works within 30 days,” Martin said.
Thiruvananthapuram: It took more than seven years to clear the hurdles involved in the shifting of a portion of a cemetery for the widening of a stretch of the Airport-MLA Hostel Road. Issues ranging from convincing the local residents to clearing the stay on the construction consumed a lot of time.
Now, despite the St Joseph’s Metropolitan Cathedral at Palayam and St Thomas Marthoma Church at Pattoor setting aside their objections and deciding to give way for development, the civic body’s laxity has come in the way of the road widening work. Both churches are yet to get licences from the city corporation to set up alternate cemeteries.
The St Joseph’s church authorities have already started shifting of the mortal remains from their portion of the cemetery is being razed for road widening. However, the Marthoma church authorities are still waiting for corporation nod.
“We have completed the construction of a vault and are waiting for the corporation’s nod. We have submitted a petition to chief minister Oommen Chandy to speed up the process,” said Fr M Samuel, vicar of St Thomas Marthoma Church, Pattoor. St Thomas church will give away 13.5 cents of land for road widening while St Joseph’s church, 23 cents.
However, corporation officials are in the dark about the application. “We are not sure if we have received any application for the new cemetery from the church. We need to check the documents and find out the current status,” said work standing committee chairman V S Padmakumar.
St Thomas church was the first to complete the construction of a new vault which could hold around 300 caskets. But they fear that shifting of corpses without consent would create unnecessary issues.
As many as 480 tombs will be shifted from the 23 cents of land belonging to the St Joseph’s church as part of the work. They have already shifted 16 mortal remains to the newly-constructed vault.
LABOURER SHORTAGE
The St Joseph’s church authorities had a tough time chasing labourers for the tedious and odd job of shifting the mortal remains. The migrant labourers, who were roped in for the work on Sunday, ran away immediately after they realized the nature of the work.
Two north Indian labourers were arranged on Monday, the first day of shifting. According to the church authorities, the workers disappeared when they came to know that the work involved the shifting of mortal remains. “We didn’t get any time to convince them. They immediately ran away,” said Shajan Martin, the parish pastrol council secretary. However, the church managed to get some local workers who exhumed mortal remains and shifted them to the newly-built vaults. Eight tombs were cleared on Sunday. One of the tombs was opened by one Kingsly Rozario, son of a deceased, who volunteered to do the task himself.
“We never thought finding labourers for this job will be so hard,” said parish priest Fr John D Bosco.
However, the church authorities got four local workers who shifted eight corpses on Tuesday. “A total of 16 mortal remains were shifted. We are planning to complete the shifting works within 30 days,” Martin said.
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