Even though the floodwaters receded a week ago, the Gandachhara crematorium in the Dhalai district of Tripura is still in a deplorable condition. The Gandachhara crematorium in the West Gandachhara ADC Village area is the only crematorium in the sub-division. The crematorium has been in a dilapidated state for a long time. There are no proper furnaces, no water supply, no river ghat, and no electricity facility.
Although officials from the administration and the local leaders of political parties are ‘aware’ of this issue, no one has taken the time to look into it and solve the plight of the villagers.
Villagers alleged, the West Gandachhara Village Secretary or the Dumbur Nagar Block BDO does not seem to care. In the past, various voluntary and social organizations repeatedly informed the panchayat and the block officials in writing to improve the crematorium. But nothing has been done, locals claimed.
On Thursday, when the body of one Jayakumar Das’s wife from Gandachhara MR Das Para was brought to be cremated, the mourners faced immense difficulty.
Finally, the mourners themselves had to spend nearly three to four hours cleaning the area around the crematorium with spades to create a somewhat suitable environment for cremation. The mourners said that the iron base of the crematorium’s furnace has been broken for a year. It is very difficult to cremate bodies in such a furnace.
Under these circumstances, they appealed to the higher authorities to take immediate steps to improve the dilapidated crematorium. Otherwise, they threatened to organize a larger movement in the future involving people from all sections of society.