The gravedigger’s sad saga

HYDERABAD: We’ve all seen them, but never spared them a thought. The Bagaris, listed as a sub-sect among the Scheduled Castes, have always been there to take care of our dead. A quiet, peace-loving people, the Bagaris now say they are being wronged.
Out to get the records straight, they have floated an association -the Kaati Kaparula Bagari Sangham - and hit the road.“We are being thrown out of graveyards and crematoriums. Burning the dead or burying them is our vocation — our only source of livelihood. In the name of protecting the sprawling acres attached to these crematoriums and graveyards, an uppercaste cartel is bent on getting rid of us. Truth is, the value of land is fast on the rise. There have been so many instances of our people being booted out. Public call booths and paan shops have come up on the vacated plots,� complains 56-year-old Pentaiah, a member of the association.
He makes a living at the Musarambagh Smashanvatika. There is substance in what Pentaiah says.
In Hyderabad district alone, there are 71 graveyards. Of these 65 have had their premises being occupied by residential and commercial structures, says a revenue survey conducted by the district collectorate.
In most of these cases, settlements of Bagaris have been cleared and handed over to private parties. “The sole deciding authority in all these places is the graveyard protection committee,� says district collector Rajeshwar Tiwari.
The Bagaris say they have never felt this threatened before. “Our livelihood is at stake. Our people dig graves or cremate the dead for a fee, which is decided on his ability to pay. The rate for digging grave is Rs 400. Now, the protection committees insist that relatives the dead approach us only through them,� says Pentaiah.
The committee takes a cut and hands over a pittance to Bagaris. It also issues a receipt, only after which is the grave-digger allowed to touch the body. “The result has been catastrophic. hardly make Rs 200 per grave now,� Pentaiah says.
Then, there are complaints police harassment. “Earlier, worked round the clock. But any more.We stop burying and cremating bodies after 8 pm. Often, ended up burying people who had died suspicious deaths. The police then harassed us,� Pentaiah says.
There was a time when Bagari women joined their men in cremating the dead or digging graves. But with more and more hooligans coming into cremation grounds these days, the men have had keep their women at home.
Some city corporate hospitals are matching of tissues and organs. nephrology agrees.