Mumbai: The Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission (MSHRC) directed the BMC to pay Rs 1 lakh fine for failing to provide a crematorium for residents of Gorai, Manori and Culvem, and ordered it to establish adequate facilities within three months. Locals said until recently, Hindu families were forced to cremate their loved ones on the beach, often waiting for low tide to perform last rites. Although a temporary site was later allotted, it lacked essential infrastructure. The Commission emphasised that ensuring dignified disposal of human remains was a statutory responsibility of the BMC. These villages are separated from the city by a creek, and other religious communities living there have designated places for the same. The MSHRC took cognisance of the issue in 2024. Last month, the order was passed by Justice A M Badar (Chairperson of MSHRC) and Justice Swapna Joshi (Member), addressed to the Chief Secretary and the BMC Commissioner, stating that the BMC Commissioner shall, within a period of three months, perform its duty as envisaged by providing places owned and registered by the BMC for disposal of dead human bodies as well as unclaimed dead human bodies in the area of Village Gorai, Manori and Culvem. It also asked the BMC to pay Rs 1 lakh fine to Maharashtra State Legal Services Authority for violation of human rights of the residents of village Gorai, Manori and Culwem by not providing places for disposal of the dead as provided by the Municipal Corporation Act.Local residents stated that the ongoing process must be expedited for providing a fully operational crematorium to the people living in the area. They stated that earlier, the locals would cremate bodies on a beach and would wait for low tide to perform the last rites. Locals, along with the Gorai Welfare Association, with the help of Borivli MLA Sanjay Upadhyay and corporator Shiva Shetty, managed to secure an empty govt-owned plot for the crematorium where they cremate the dead now, but it lacks the required support system.
