In a Surat village, the family of a tribal labourer was forced to perform his last rites on a roadside after they were prohibited from using the village crematorium reportedly because they could not pay Rs 2,500.
The incident was reported in Ena village in Palsana taluk of the Surat district in south Gujarat. Locals said that Mohan Rathod, a farm labourer in his early 40s, died on Tuesday after a prolonged illness. His family accompanied by community members went to the village crematorium in the afternoon but officials, who manage the place, refused to open the lock as the family couldn't pay Rs 2,500.
This angered the community members who set up the funeral pyre right beside a road and performed the last rites. "Till 20 days back, Rs 1,100 to Rs 1,200 was being charged from the villagers for every cremation. Suddenly, they increased it to Rs 2,500. Halpati tribe is poor and can't afford such high charges. This led to a situation where each family of the community contributed in collecting wood and then cremated the deceased on a roadside," said Bharat Rathod, a resident of Ena village who was present during the cremation.
When contacted, Surat Rural Superintendent of Police, Usha Rada told DH, "We are looking into it. An FIR was registered on Tuesday. The villagers are holding a meeting to sort out the dispute as they are claiming it to be their internal matter."
Meanwhile, according to local sources, a meeting was held on Wednesday afternoon between leaders from Halpati community, and Patels, who are the most affluent ones, where they discussed and tried to resolve the issue. Sources said that a resolution was passed wherein it was decided that "people from the Halpati community will not have to pay any money for the last rites. "They will not be charged but they will have to come with their own woods and also clean the place after the cremation."
Ena village is known as an "NRI village" in the region as most houses have relatives in the United States, Canada among other foreign nations and have contributed in developing the village infrastructure immensely. They had shot to fame in 2009 when they brought teachers from the United States to teach English to children.