Where the dead and living are neighbours

BANGALORE: It's a sobering truth: our wildly expanding city has little place for the dead, and needs to add to its burial grounds. The city corporation admits there have been no new additions for three decades now, and a majority of those existing are not planned grounds, but have been in use for ages.
With congestion increasing in the city, residents in many areas live along graveyards.Like the residents of HRBR Layout I Block in Kalyan Nagar, who stay locked indoors when burials are carried out. Over the years, they managed to get the boundary walls raised, but the graveyard still doesn't have proper gates. It is also used as a roadside urinal, and during weekends, turns into a den for gamblers and drug addicts. Some house owners opposite this graveyard have problems finding tenants.
But there is no one to deal with these issues, and neither is there a department in the BBMP to monitor the activities and maintenance of cemeteries.
Here's what they wrote in about their experience to TOI:
Dear TOI,
We, the residents of 5th D Main in HRBR Layout I Block, have been living near an old burial ground. It's a very small one, roughly 100 feet by 300 feet and in regular use. Every burial here is a loud procession. We respect the people's sentiments but this keeps us locked indoors for a minimum of two hours on that day.
Almost in all cases, the rituals are performed by the roadside or even in the middle of the road, and there's a huge crowd. The loud wails and beating of drums also upsets the kids. They have also stopped playing galli cricket on the road...
We have also witnessed some unscientific burials here. The bodies are buried in pits less than three feet deep and sometimes even one on top of the other. We fear that this may lead to health hazards. We have repeatedly approached BBMP and even some MLAs. We are tired of it. Let the graveyard remain, but there must be some regulation...
Residents, HRBR Layout I Block