CONRAD DIAS
Ranchi, March 8: With the shortage of land in cemeteries around the city, many families are opting for family graves as it is a much cheaper option. Post covid, the cemeteries in the city have been filled up adding to the land crunch problem. As cemeteries are running out of space, the price for buying a plot of land for a grave has also gone up in the last few years.
Therefore, many Christian families in the city have opted for family graves that are within the premises of their residence. Napoleon Kerketta, a resident of Argora has a grave of his younger brother in his residential premises who passed away in a road accident in 2014.
“My younger brother passed away in a tragic accident in 2014. We conducted his funeral at our residence because there was conflict of interest between my family and my uncles. My uncles wanted the funeral to take place at our native village but we wanted it to happen here in Ranchi. So we came to a mutual decision that the funeral will take place at our residence. The prayers and ceremonies were done by the priest as it is done in a cemetery,” he said.
The cemetery of Church of North India (CNI) and Roman Catholic Church (RC) are located in Kanta Toli and both the cemeteries are almost 90 percent filled with graves and most families who are a part of the respective parish, own a family grave in these cemeteries.
In another such incident, the Toppo family from Harmu lost one of their family members during the second wave of covid and they too conducted the funeral at their own residence.
A member of the Catholic Community from Namkum Parish explained the details of the cemetery and why people are also opting for family graves at their homes.
“An annual maintenance fee is taken from every family by the ‘Tola Mandali’ of different areas in the city. The fee is generally quite less and it varies from place to place. If a member of a family dies then he is buried in the place allotted in the cemetery. If another member dies in a year or two we provide them a new grave in the cemetery,” he added.
He explained that people are adopting family graves because of various reasons.
“Every cemetery belongs to a parish and if he/she is not a part of the parish then it becomes difficult to carry out the funeral in that cemetery. Hence people make a cemetery at home. It is also due to emotional attachment at times that make them feel that the departed soul is with them,” the member said.
Last year, a family in Kolkata converted their grave space in the cemetery for two bodies into a special grave that can accommodate 12 members. Instead of burying the body, it is first cremated and the ash is put in an urn which is then buried. In this way, a lot less land space is occupied. This method can be adopted in places where cemeteries are facing a land crunch.
