UT orders closure of Mani Majra cremation ground

Rajinder Nagarkoti

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 7

The UT Administration has issued orders for the closure of the Mani Majra cremation ground, catering to the Mani Majra, Mauli Jagran, Panchkula and Western Command areas. The UT plans to develop a green belt in the area. 

The orders were issued by the Finance Secretary-cum-Chief Administrator, UT Administration. Area councillors and residents of Mani Majra and Panchkula are up in arms against the decision.

The orders issued by the UT, which were also forwarded to the MC, state, “As per the Notified Master Plan-2031, the existing cremation ground in Mani Majra, once on the outskirts of the village, falls on the Chandigarh-Kalka road, is highly urbanised now and needs to be discontinued. It is also recommended that the area be developed as a green belt.” 

The orders further state, “As per the approved layout plan of Pocket No. 1, Mani Majra, city-level showrooms already exist in the vicinity of the cremation ground. 

People using the cremation ground park their vehicles along the Chandigarh-Kalka road, creating a traffic bottleneck.” The UT says the cremation ground is a city-level facility, which is already provided in the eastern and western side of the city. As per the approved drawing of the Industrial Area, Phase I, a site measuring 6.12 acre for a cremation ground and a children burial ground is already earmarked and the same has been constructed at the site falling on the eastern side. The electric cremation can also be constructed in the Industrial Area, Phase I.

How matter reached Admn

At a meeting of the MC House on February 29, 2016, the then councillor of Ward No. 26, Mani Majra, Desraj Gupta, had stated that residents of Mani Majra and Panchkula were totally dependent on the cremation ground in Mani Majra. He had stated that the cremation ground was being run by a private society and the MC had not provided any infrastructure. He had also demanded some additional space on the adjoining municipal land for stocking firewood and extension of the cremation ground. The House had resolved  that the MC land being used as the cremation ground be regularised and approved further extension of land for storage of wood. It was also resolved that the drawings of the cremation ground be obtained from the UT Department of Urban Planning. The matter was taken up with the UT Chief Architect, who placed the matter before the Finance Secretary-cum-Chief Administrator, who issued the orders for its closure. 

Review Feb 2016 decision, MC told

The Administration had sent a letter to the MC to review the decision taken at the February 2016 MC House meeting and denotify the same. The letter was placed before the MC General House meeting on April 28. It was resolved that they would again take up the matter with the Administration.