CORRUPTION AT MULUND CREMATORIUM!
Corruption in India begins with birth when parents have to pay a bribe to acquire a child’s birth certificate and ends at the crematorium (Shamshan Bhoomi) where the close relatives of the deceased are asked to either pay a bribe or made to run from pillar to post to get material for performing the last rites! At Mulund, a similar scene of corruption was exposed when the contractor supplying woods for the pyre duped the deceased relatives by providing soaked wooden logs!!
The unfortunate incident has been exposed at the Shamshan Bhoomi located at the Dumping Ground in Mulund West. According to reports, a Right To Information (RTI) activist Anil Galgali had attended the funeral of a close relative. However, he was left disappointed to notice that the wooden logs used to cremate the body were wet, hence it took a long time for the body to turn to ashes.
Irritated by the deplorable corruption at the crematorium, Anil Galgali reported the fraud to BMC T-Ward Assistant Commissioner, Kishore Gandhi. Acting upon the complaint, Kishore Gandhi ordered an enquiry and asked BMC –T Ward Health Officer, Dr Mahendra Singhnapurkar, to inspect the wooden logs at the BMC godown storing the wood for the pyre.
When Dr Mahendra Singhnapurkar raided the BMC godown, he was left astonished to discover that a majority of the wooden logs were wet. Hence, he served a ‘Show Cause’ Notice to the corrupt BMC contractor K.V. Parulekar, demanding an explanation as to why Parulekar should not be held responsible and his contract cancelled for cheating Mulundkars!!
When Home Times contracted Sanjay Dubey, the care-taker of Mulund Nagrik Sabha Sanchalit Hindu Shamshan Bhumi, he tried to drift away from the controversy. Defending himself, he said, “Mulund Nagrik Sabha Sanchalit Sanstha has nothing to do with the allocation of wooden logs for the crematorium. Wooden logs are managed by BMC and the contractor. Such kinds of things do happen during monsoon, but I am not aware of any recent fraud.”
It may be noted that BMC has appointed contractors to supply 300kg of ‘dry’ wood to the family of a deceased. Every ward has this facility across Mumbai. However, RTI activist Anil Galgali claims many contractors, in the lure of making additional money, do not even leave the dead man in peace! These corrupt contractors employ the shameful practice of soaking the dry wood in water to increase the weight of wooden logs and, in turn, fill their pockets!!
Don’t these corrupt contractors think is high time that we learnt to at least respect the dead?
