Mira Bhayandar: As burial space exhausts, Muslims demand another cemetery in city

The demand for another cemetery to bury their departed ones is once again gaining momentum amongst members of the Muslim community in Bhayandar which relies on a sole graveyard that has already exhausted on space. Notably, the Sunni Muslim Cemetery in Bhayandar (west) is the only Muslim cemetery for a population which has already crossed the 75,000 mark.

Already facing an acute space crunch, this graveyard located amidst a sprawling residential pocket in Mahesh Nagar is spread in an area of around 5,000 square feet and is also the final resting place for accident victims between Naigaon and Virar.

Amidst the trauma of the loss of a loved one, grieving relatives often have to undergo anxious hours just scouting for space for a burial. Also there have been instances when the land is dug up for burial, a body already buried surfaces, which has a horrifying effect on the grieving families.

Reiterating their long-pending demand for a cemetery, a delegation from Kabristan Sangharsh Samithi led by Azim Tamboli, met Shiv Sena MP- Anil Desai to seek his help in tagging reservations on suitable plots for Muslim burial ground to be implemented while formulating and finalizing the new Development Plan (DP).

“Be it BJP, Congress or any other government, we have been seeking another burial ground for nearly eight years. Now we have pinned our hopes on Shiv Sena and met MP-Anil Desai,” says Tamboli.

Interestingly a six acre plot in the Navghar village area of Bhayandar (east) has been earmarked for a burial ground for the Sunni Muslim, Christian and Bohri communities. However, thanks to lack of political will, the burial ground has been entangled in bureaucratic hurdles for the past more than a decade.