ICC Note:

Christians in Karamsad Town, located in India, are fighting with their local government to preserve a 100-year-old Christian burial ground next to their church. Recently, the local government passed a resolution to move the burial ground 3 kms away. Local Christians has submitted a complaint to the government in an attempt to protect the burial ground. Christians in India are finding themselves under increased attack from Hindu radicals. They are also feeling greater restrictions from their local governments. In extreme cases, local governments are even passing resolutions outlawing the practice of Christianity altogether. 

9/1/2016 India (Times of India) – Catholic Christians in Karamsad town of Anand district have demanded that the municipality earmark land near their church as a burial ground. According to the community leaders, who submitted a memorandum to the civic body officials on Wednesday, it was in 2011 that the civic body had resolved to allocate the land to the community. But it now being proposed to shift the burial ground on Sandesar Road, around 3 km away from Karamsad.

“The present burial ground near Ramdev temple is nearly 100-year-old. The municipality wants to make a resolution through which another piece of land will be allocated to us instead of our original burial ground,” said Atul Parmar, one of the members of the community.

“We have submitted the memorandum to stop such an agenda item getting passed by the civic body as our original burial ground has nearly 100 graves,” he said, adding that the proposed site also has a pipeline of ONGC passing underneath.

The community members, who took out a rally before submitting the memorandum, also alleged that some graves of the present burial ground have got damaged as the civic body has started some digging work near the ground.

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