Chennai Corporation to permit burials at three places

Chennai: The Chennai corporation has resolved to permit residents of fishing hamlets like Urur Kuppam in Tiruvanmiyur to conduct burials at three different places, where it was forbidden for nearly six years.

Following a Madras high court directive asking the corporation to take a final view on a review application, the three burial grounds — located near Ashtalakshmi Temple (used by Urur Kuppam residents), on Thiruvanmiyur Fourth seaward road (used by Tiruvanmiyur Kuppam residents) and near Thiruvalluvar Nagar Park (used by Adi Dravida people) will now be available for residents.

In 2009, under former mayor M. Subramanian, the corporation had resolved to bar burials in these grounds citing widespread residential development of the area. “Individual houses and housing board settlements have come up around these burial grounds. Hence, it affects environmental pollution levels,” the resolution in 2009 had noted.

Back then, it was decided to redevelop the areas into parks and subsequently, burials were prevented. At  this juncture, a writ petition was filed by  S. Sivakumar in March 2015 praying the HC to intervene and convert the grounds into parks. The court ruled in petitioner’s favour. After adopting the resolution allowing burials at the three places,  Duraisamy criticised the former DMK mayor for the previous council’s decision.