Last week's heavy rains flooded graves at the Christian cemetery near Teen Petrol Pump Junction, Thane. Mourners who attended funerals during the weekend said they were forced to lay bodies in graves that were filled with water.
Dr Thomas Joseph, a member of the parish council at Our Lady of Mercy Church, one of the five churches that share the burial ground, who visited the cemetery on Saturday to attend the funeral of a friend's mother described the ceremony as a 'water burial'.
Joseph, who posted photographs of the flooded graves on social media, called the situation 'pathetic'. “The body was floating in the water and they did not have a basic facility like a water pump to drain out the water,” said Joseph who wrote to the Archbishop of Bombay, Cardinal Oswald Gracias to draw his attention to the conditions at the cemetery and the neglect by the caretakers.
“During the monsoons the graveyard is flooded with water causing inconvenience for burials wherein the deceased have to be laid to rest in such a sorry condition amidst the muck and waterlogged graves. It is not only disrespectful to the dead but also an insult to the families and the community that the Archdiocese has failed to even provide a decent burial,” Joseph said in the letter.
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The graveyard, with 100 to 120 burial spaces, is the major Christian cemetery in Thane. The graves are frequently used because of shortage of space and coffins are banned at the cemetery. The bodies are compulsorily buried in a shroud so that they decompose faster.
The burial ground has been partially encroached by shops and shanties, leaving only a third of the original 20,000 square feet for burials, said Melwyn Fernandes, secretary of Association of Concerned Christians and a member of Our Lady of Mercy Church. “We, members of approximately 122 Catholic churches of Archdiocese of Bombay, are contributing crores of rupees by way of Sunday collections and community funds but there are no facilities or benefits for us. The final resting place for five to six churches in Thane city is in such bad condition,” said Fernandes.
Parish priest at Our Lady of Mercy Church, Father John Almeida, who is also a trustee of the cemetery's caretakers, the St John the Baptist Church, did not respond to calls and messages. However, he is reported to have told church members that he will visit the cemetery this week. Deepak Dias, manager of the trust, declined to make a comment on the phone.
