Meerut MLA demands release of fund for soil to graveyards

THE MLA HAS ALSO ASKED THE DM TO RELEASE AN ADDITIONAL ₹25 L TO PURCHASE AND SUPPLY OXYGEN TO PEOPLE.

MEERUT: The Samajwadi Party MLA from Meerut City constituency, Rafeeq Ansari, has asked district magistrate K Balaji to release Rs 25 lakh from his MLA fund to supply soil in the city’s five major graveyards to facilitate burials.

He also has asked to release additional Rs 25 lakh to purchase oxygen for people.

Ansari said that the city’s five major graveyards could face a shortage of space for burying bodies because of the increasing number of deaths due to the pandemic. He claimead that earlier 4 to 5 bodies were brought for burial in each graveyard, which has now increased to 14 to 15 a day. He said that over 500 people have died and been buried in graveyards in the past 10 days, which has raised worries of shortage of space for burials in the coming days.

He said that the soil was needed to fill old graves to give way to dig new graves for fresh burials. Therefore, he has written a letter to the DM to release the amount to purchase and supply soil in the city’s major graveyards namely Bale Mian graveyard, Rajputana graveyard, Ansarian graveyard, Lebardian graveyard and graveyard of the Malik community.

The MLA has also asked the DM to release an additional Rs 25 lakh to purchase and supply oxygen to people.

Ansari claimed that the situation is really grim and people are facing an acute oxygen crisis. Patients undergoing treatment in home isolation barely have access to oxygen because all the oxygen plants are now under the control of the district administration.