No land for dead to rest in peace!

Baripada: Such has been harsh reality of illegal encroachments that even the dead are now finding hard to find space to rest in peace. In one such bizarre incident, a dead body had to wait for several hours before villagers performed the last rites at Urmal village under Udala police limits in Mayurbhanj on Wednesday.

Reason behind such hold up, was the illegal encroachments on cremation ground of the village.

Sources said a sixty-two-year-old Laxmimani Pradhan died a natural death yesterday. But as a portion of the village crematorium was encroached, the villagers could not perform her last rites.

Later, the villagers took Pradhan’s body and staged a demonstration in front of the Tehsil office.

“We do not have a crematorium and despite repeated complaints no action was taken by the revenue administration,” said Ravindra Parida, a local resident.

Tehsildar Rajendra Kar on the other hand informed that steps will be taken for resolving such issues at the earliest.