Burial grounds at city centres can become the envy of land sharks

What Lies BENEATH

Burial grounds at city centres can become the envy of land sharks

John Sarkar


LOCATED conveniently between Kolkatas biggest cemetery and largest morgue, a bone-collecting firm is doing brisk business illegally, an online tabloid reported. And there are many others as well who have hit a goldmine stealing dead bodies in the shadow of the night. But somewhere, these body snatchers seem to have missed the point.
Dont publish these figures, a young Parsi man warned, as SundayET snooped around to gather an estimate of real estate values of some prominent burial sites across the country. There are land sharks waiting to pounce.
And heres why: Located in Malabar Hills, Mumbai, a 55-acre Parsi funeral ground stands a mute spectator to the transition of life into death. At present, the area is valued at around Rs 12,000 cr. And according to Dr Jairaj Thanekar, executive health officer at BMC (Bombay Municipal Council) there are around 140 burial grounds in the city today.
Then close to Delhis Fleet Street, a nondescript Muslim burial ground stands hidden from public glare, thankfully . According to the current real estate rates, this 185-acre property is worth Rs 11,000 cr today. And as per a 1970 gazette notification, 488 Muslim graveyards exist in the Capital alone of which 27-28 are still operational.
Similarly, down south, a 200-yearold cemetery in Chennais Kilpauk Garden was in the news for not having space to bury the dead. This overcrowded 18-acre burial ground is today worth Rs 500 cr in real estate terms.
And then Kolkata, which arguably is the favourite resting place for Europeans in the country, boasts a decent number of burial grounds. The biggest possibly is the Lower Circular Road Cemetery at 33 acres, the current price of which would be roughly Rs 600 cr.
But at the same time, if one has to compare the sheer size and value of burial grounds in India with that of the ones abroad, one might come back a little dazed. The Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Virginia is a military cemetery in the United States. Spread over an area of 624 acres it would command a real estate price of around Rs 1.2 lakh cr! Or how about a stroll in the beautiful tree-dotted 27-acre Zoshigaya Cemetery on the Yurakucho Line in Japan whose real estate value would perhaps touch Rs 5,000 cr today. In hindsight, these are grave amounts!

DIGGING UP GOLD



Rs 12,000 cr

Tower Of Silence, Malabar Hills, Mumbai

Rs 11,000 cr

New Mohammedan Cemetery, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, Delhi

Rs 500 cr

Kilpauk Cemetery, Chennai

Rs 600 cr

Lower Circular Road Cemetery, Kolkata

Rs 1.2 lakh cr

Arlington National Cemetery, US

Rs 5,000 cr

Zoshigaya Cemetery, Japan