Valsad residents forced to carry funeral procession in waist-deep water

Despite tall claims that development has reached the remotest corners of Gujarat under the BJP rule, a funeral procession was forced to pass through waist-deep water to reach the cremation ground in Mohna Kavchali village of Dharampur taluka, Valsad.

It is not only the remote tribal villages, but also semi-urban areas where people are still deprived of basic development to the extent that even after death, residents have to struggle for human dignity. Many villages do not even have cremation grounds, and in several cases, there are no proper roads leading to them.

In Mohna Kavchali village, about 1,200 residents face severe hardships due to the absence of roads, a bridge, and a cremation ground. In particular, the people from Kumbhyapada and Bhotan parts of the village have remained completely deprived of development for years. 

Recently, when a villager passed away, the funeral procession had to cross through the stream since there is no road. With water reaching up to the waist, people were seen risking their lives to wade across. If that was not enough, for the cremation itself, wood had to be brought across the stream. Villagers formed a human chain to carry the logs through the water, again risking their lives.

Local residents Rajiram Bhai and Mukesh Bhai expressed their anger, stating that the people of the village have been waiting in vain for facilities such as a road, a bridge, and a cremation ground.