As squatters have field day, UP farms turn crematoriums

SHAHJAHANPUR: Lack of space for cremation in the villages of Shahjahanpur and Pilibhit districts in Uttar Pradesh has led to a new tradition as thousands of locals are now performing the last rites of the dead on their own fields. The space then becomes sacred and is not used for farming afterwards.All gram panchayats actually have land earmarked for cremation grounds but these have been allegedly encroached upon by previous gram pradhans and block chiefs.
The situation is particularly dire in blocks like Sindhauli near here, which has a substantial number of Sikh families.Villages like Mishripur Bujurg, Piparia Baswera, Bhakiyarpur Bhitia and Teerthapur do not have a single public cremation ground.In Khuthar block, entire gram panchayats like Tondarpur, Sujanpur and Trilokapur have no facilities for cremation.
Those who do not have land of their own have to take the bodies of their relatives to far-off riverbanks for last rites.
In Rampur Nawadia village of Khudaganj, 100km from here, residents had no idea if the village had a cremation ground.They have long been cremating their dead in their own fields.
A local farmer, Updesh Singh, said there was some land officially allotted for cremation. TOI found a standing sugarcane crop on the plot, which locals said was owned by a politically connected farmer.
This issue was initially raised by Rajendra Singh Rathore, pradhan of Piparia Basskheda village in Sindhauli block. The previous district magistrate, Vijay Kiran Anand, had issued an order to the SDM of Powayan, Salil Patel, to get the encroached land in the village cleared. Rathore had a copy of the letter but no action was initiated after the district magistrate was transferred.