All's not well with Athgaon burial ground

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, Jan 24: Anomalies are new normal at Athgaon burial ground in Guwahati. So much so that for the Guwahati Kabarsthan Committee (GKC) it is next to impossible to run the burial ground smoothly. Talking to newsmen in Guwahati on Wednesday, GKC general secretary Imur Rahman and assistant secretary Md Murtaza said that they were being prevented by some quarters from removing all hurdles blocking progress. “The burial ground has vast landed property. Some rooms were erected at suitable places of the burial ground so as to generate funds for its development and upkeep. The previous committee gave the rooms at a very low rate of rentals. However, even though the rents are bare minimum, many of the tents have not been paying rents for years on end. We’ve let the people doing business known on the rented rooms of the hike in rentals. They’re not paying the long-unpaid rents, let alone paying rents at the hiked rates. This apart, people doing business from the rooms create a problem by parking vehicles, especially trucks, bringing goods for them. This has led us close one of the two gates the burial ground has. However, that has led the businessmen pick a quarrel with us. The burial ground is a public place where anomalies have no rooms. We’re making our decisions public and the businessmen who’ve taken rooms on rent have to follow the rules set by us for the welfare of people. We’re not going to allow any irregularities, and if need be, we may opt to the legal course.”