THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: One of the biggest deadlocks in the development of the Airport-MLA Hostel road was the dismantling of two cemeteries at Pattoor. After six long years of discussions, the authorities of St Joseph Latin Catholic Church, Palayam, and St Thomas Marthoma Church, Pattoor, agreed to surrender around 37 cents of cemetery land for the road-widening works. However, now, land acquisition is facing a fresh deadlock. The latest issue is the complaint raised by the Pharmacy Council Employees’ Union (PCEU). The PCEU has approached the High Court against the construction of vaults adjacent to the building of the Public Health Laboratory. In the complaint, the PCEU members alleged that the church was constructing vaults too close to the building of the Public Health Laboratory flouting norms. The Employees’ Union is opposing the move to shift the corpses to the vaults being constructed by the church authorities using the fund allotted by TRIDA as compensation. PCEU president K C Ajith Kumar said the vaults so close to the building would cause health issues for them. “I don’t think it is scientific to bury in vaults. The employees fear that it is unhygienic and would create health problems. The vaults lack the mandatory distance from the adjacent building,” he said. When asked about the sentiments of relatives who agreed to shift the graves of their dear ones, Ajith said that, “the government must do something. The building can be constructed according to norms, without disturbing anyone. The government must take care of that.” Project engineer of Road Fund Board Madhava Pillai told Express that he had given orders to arrange 1.5 metres width between the laboratory and the vault. As many as 500 corpses need to be shifted from 23 cents of the cemetery belonging to the St Joseph’s Metropolitan Cathedral. Corpses on the 13.5 cents of land of the Marthoma church too will be relocated for the Airport-MLA Hostel road. The church authorities reportedly told the Road Fund Board officials that only two corpses would be shifted per day. “Taking the sentiments of the relatives into consideration, each remains will be collected in a separate casket and transferred to a new vault with all religious ceremonies. This will take almost one year,” the church authorities said.
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