Families belonging to Hindu communities that continue the practice of burial instead of cremation under the Tambaram Corporation limits are facing difficulties due to the absence of clear procedures and publicly available information at traditional burial grounds, residents and activists have alleged.

While the Tambaram Corporation has been encouraging the use of electric and gasifier crematoriums, activists say there is little clarity on the functioning of traditional burial and cremation grounds where manual methods are still followed.

Transparency sought

Senior social activist V. Santhanam said that though a majority of Hindus opt for cremation, some caste groups continue to follow burial customs. Facilities equipped with electric and gasifier technology are functioning below the MIT flyover on GST Road and at Hasthinapuram.

However, traditional burial grounds lack basic information such as the name and contact details of caretakers, fee structure and mandatory documentation, he alleged.

“There is no transparency on who is in charge of the burial grounds or whether a doctor’s certificate is mandatory, as followed in crematoriums,” he said.

Santhanam urged the Tambaram Corporation to install boards mentioning the authorised caretaker, contact details, charges and documents required for burial or cremation. He also said caretakers at traditional facilities should be brought under the Corporation’s rolls and entrusted with maintaining registers and issuing receipts similar to procedures followed at gasifier crematoriums.

Grounds in poor condition

According to activists, traditional burial grounds at Bharathipuram and Ganapathypuram remain poorly maintained, without proper nameboards, security or public information. A similar facility is also functioning near Chitlapakkam Lake.

A resident recalled that a family from Tiruneermalai recently faced difficulties while attempting to bury a relative due to confusion over submission of a doctor’s certificate.

An official said that in cases of deaths occurring at home, sanitary officials are required to inspect the premises and verify the cause of death, while procedures differ in hospital-related deaths.

Call for regulation

R. Ramadas, advocate and social activist, alleged that there was neither a proper fee structure nor mandatory insistence on doctor’s certificates at the Bharathipuram burial ground, where both traditional burial and firewood-based cremation are carried out.

“The caretakers traditionally inherit the work and survive on payments made by visitors, as they are not formally paid by the Corporation,” he said.

Activists warned that the absence of due process could result in improper maintenance of death records, thereby affecting official data and welfare planning.

A sanitary officer said that when the local body functioned as a municipality, caretakers were directly monitored and authorised. “After Tambaram became a Corporation, the practice gradually stopped,” the official said.

Activists said maintaining proper records, authorised caretaker details and transparent fee structures at burial grounds was important to ensure transparency and prevent misuse, especially amid concerns over illegal activities in certain localities.