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No RIP for dear departed in Batti
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Grama sevaka's office located in the cemetery
Members of the Amirthakaly Rural Development Society (RDS) have written to President Maithripala Sirisena seeking his intervention to stop the encroachment of cemetery land by a group of persons who want it turned into a children’s playground.
The land in question was crown land, surveyed and vested for the Amirthakaly common cemetery in 1955. The land, originally surveyed at 5.9 acres, has now shrunk to 3.5 acres with encroachers now occupying the rest of the land, the President of the Amirthakaly RDS, M. Maruthalingam said.
He said the cemetery serves people from four villages, Amirthakaly, Punnachcholai, Karuwerppankerny and Kumarapuram – about 4,000 families. Much of the encroachment happened during the years of war when the cemetery was neglected, Mr. Maruthalingam said: people began building houses there and children used part of it as a playground. When the RDS began moves to build a parapet wall around the cemetery, matters came to a head with parents demanding that their children be allowed to continue playing on the site. The RDS in turn filed a case in the Batticaloa Magistrates Court and in May the court ruled in its favour, permitting the construction of a parapet wall to demarcate the cemetery. Even after the court ruling, however, the parents continued to demand that the land be made into a playground, Mr. Maruthalingam said.
Money to construct the parapet wall was collected from the villagers but soon after building work started some of the parents had begun protests and work was stopped due to the tense situation. “Several of the gravestones have been damaged by the children and there is gross disrespect for the dead due this kind of behavior,” Mr. Maruthalingam said.
Among the thousands of people buried at this cemetery are many who had were killed in the 2004 tsunami.
The RDS has written to President Sirisena to intervene to ensure that the cemetery land is protected and further encroachment be prevented.
Much of the encroachment in the cemetery happened during the years of the war. Pix by Indika Handuwala
The cemetery serves people from four villages, about 4,000 families.