For Pritam Singh a resident of Adhoiwala area of the State capital, the pain of death of his five-year-old son Sandeep was unbearable.
What Singh and his relatives did not know that there is no resting place for little Sandeep in the capital city. According to the Hindu rituals the little children, who died, are not being cremated but are buried in a dissolute place preferably a river side. The body of little Sandeep who was the student of Class I in Mangla Devi Inter college on EC road had been taken for more than 10 kms in Raipur area for burial. One of the friends of grieving Singh family Ajay Chaudhary said that Sandeep died on Sunday but the entire exercise of finding a place for the body of little boy took a long time due to which the last rite was performed on Saturday.
Old residents of the city informed that earlier the children were being buried near the Rispana and Bindal rivers in the city but large scale encroachments on these rivers and increasing population of the city ensured that no such place has remained within the city limits now. One of the Pracharaks of Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) Shrikant was of the view that the State Government should take immediate cognizance on the matter which is very emotional as well as important. Talking to The Pioneer, he told that the village Panchayats should also ponder on the issue and provide a burial place for the children in the villages.
The State President of Shiv Sena Gaurav Kumar said that the State Government, which has provided burial ground for Muslims and Christians, should earmark a place for Hindus in the cities preferably near any river for performing last rituals of their children. He claimed that the Shiv Sena has brought the issue before the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun but nothing has happened.
When contacted the Mukhya Nagar Adhikari (MNA) of Dehradun Municipal Corporation Harak Singh Rawat said that the matter has never came before him. He accepted that the issue is important and said that a proposal for earmarking a burial place for children of Hindus would be brought in the next board meeting of the corporation.