After marking an outline with a spade, he scraped off some mud and piled it next to him. Thomas, a gravedigger at Kalpalli Cemetery in Bengaluru has been laying the dead to rest for over 40 years. The workers at the cemetery have been building these final resting places since time immemorial.
While, the morticians are meant to receive at least Rs. 1,000 for digging a grave, they end up being short-changed. Irregular income and lack of recognition despite their efforts are forcing them to thrive in poor living conditions.
In general parlance, death can never be a form of jubilation. But for this community, it is not depressing either. Death keeps the gravediggers alive.
In January 2017, the gravediggers held a protest by staging their own final rites. They dug their own graves and covered themselves with mud demanding a fixed pay and employment recognition.
Forced to act, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) announced that one member from every family of gravediggers will be given an employment contract and paid a monthly minimum wage of Rs. 17,000. The civic body conducted a survey of the households living in cemeteries and even allotted Rs. 268 crores for renovation. In addition, the civic body promised educational and health facilities.
However, these amenities are yet to be implemented.
Saritha, lives in a dilapidated house within the Kalpalli Cemetery. She uses scraps of wood and gunny bags to patch the leaking roof. She spends at least two hours in a day cleaning the place in and around her dwelling using cow dung for its anti-bacterial properties.
Her husband works as a gravedigger. He toils four to five hours borrowing the soil in order to lay a corpse to rest. Her daughter studies in the neighbouring government school.
Open defecation is a common scenario at the cemetery. Lack of toilets leaves them with little choice but to resort to it. This in turn, causes health ailments and other infectious diseases. “It is really difficult to manage without toilets. We are afraid because we don’t know who is watching. Besides, during the rainy season we have to watch out for snakes,” said Saritha.
Most of the burial grounds across the city are not fenced and don’t have enough streetlights. Hence, they have become hotspots for miscreants. Fear and unrest have become a part of the daily lives of residents. Gravediggers and their families do not step out of their house after 8 pm.
“Feeling secure in one’s environment is a basic need and it ought to be fulfilled,” said Suresh, Secretary of Ambedkar Dalitha Sangarsha Samithi.
The residents have registered multiple complaints at the Pulikeshi Nagar police station in Bengaluru. They have also submitted their grievances in writing to the Commissioner of BBMP.
The writing on the wall is clear. The gravediggers and their families have not given up. They still spend their evenings discussing issues like women’s safety, children’s education, and prevention of felony.
While the gravediggers continue to remain short-changed, a permanent solution is imperative to their long-standing impasse.
Video Editor: Ashish MacCune
(Breathe In, Breathe Out: Are you finding it tough to breathe polluted air? Join hands with FIT in partnership with #MyRightToBreathe to find a solution to pollution. Send in your suggestions to fit@thequint.com or WhatsApp @ +919999008335)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)