Mira Bhayandar: 20 years on, MBMC stares at dispute over crematorium, graveyard land

As if finding a piece of land to live on wasn't difficult enough, the sprawling property housing an all-community final resting place in Mira Road which is in existence for the past over two decades is now entangled in a serious ownership dispute.

The Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) has landed into a soup over the land dispute. Notably, a Hindu crematorium, a Muslim cemetery, and a Christian burial ground all three spaces nestling next to each other on the same plot of land adjacent to a sprawling joggers park, is in existence in the Poonam Sagar Complex of Mira Road for over two decades.

The civic administration claims that it had acquired the land parcel totaling 59,000 sq mt from a developer in exchange of transfer development rights (TDR) to construct the final resting places in 2001.

However, alleging they were duped via fraudulent land transfer deals, the original land owners- Babar and family sought the intervention of the revenue department which confirmed their ownership but inked it only on paper in 2015.

The civic administration challenged the order in Maharashtra Revenue Tribunal (MRT). In accordance with the orders issued by the MRT, additional tehsildar is conducting a probe into the matter.

Meanwhile, the members of the Babar family met civic officials and demanded compensation and permission for constructing their homes, following which the town planning officers are exploring a solution and at the same time efforts are on to amicably close the case so that development work at the premises is not affected.

“Keeping in mind the space constraint and to accommodate more burials, RCC graves are being constructed but the land issues have created problems. The MBMC should resolve the issue at the earliest else we will launch an agitation,” said, Saji I P of the Mira Bhayandar Christian Welfare Association which manages the graveyard.

“It is true that the original land owners have possession on paper, but the physical possession is with the MBMC. Until the final orders are out, we will complete the pending work under police protection,” said executive engineer Deepak Khambit.

Published on: Friday, July 01, 2022, 09:31 AM IST