Councillors now decide to find land for new graveyards as issue rocks HDMC meeting

Hubballi Dharwad Municipal Corporation faces graveyards shortage, prompting urgent action for new burial grounds in twin cities.

The issue of shortage of space in graveyards rocked the monthly council meeting of Hubballi Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC) in Dharwad on Monday with councillors cutting across party lines urging the municipal corporation to identify land for the construction of new graveyards in the twin cities.

The councillors in unison said that if no requisite steps are taken to address the shortage of graveyards, then people in the twin cities will be forced to take the extreme step of burying the dead on the corporation premises.

Raising the issue during the monthly council meeting in Dharwad, Congress councillor Suvarna Kallakauntla highlighted the sorry state of the graveyards located on Gadag Road in Hubballi where buried bodies are being pulled out by stray dogs and body parts are found strewn across the graveyard.

Narrating the disturbing scenes at the graveyard, she demanded immediate steps to identify land and construct new graveyards to facilitate burial with dignity.

Concurring with her, several ruling party members from the BJP said that the graveyards at Bhairidevarkoppa, Dharwad, Gamangatti and in Hubballi are facing a similar problem.

Emphasising the need for immediate action to build new graveyards within a year, they said that if it is not done, residents might bring the dead to be buried on the corporation premises in protest.

Taking serious note of the issue, Mayor Ramanna Badiger directed Municipal Commissioner Eshwar Ullagaddi to constitute a team to identify municipal or government land and submit a report. Based on the report, a suitable proposal will be sent to the government, he said.