kin worry over insistence on Aadhaar for cremation

“The practice before Aadhaar was just to submit the doctor’s death declaration and during early 80’s even that was not insisted upon,” recalls a burial ground assistant in north Chennai wishing not to be quoted.

He explained that usually, the family members pay tips to burial ground staff. “But now they get agitated as we ask for three kinds of proofs. Particularly for the bodies that come above 80 years of age do not have all the required proofs. There are also orphaned and unclaimed bodies that come for cremation, but these come with supporting documents from the city health office and police department,” the 50-year-old burial ground staff explained.

The irony is that no dead body is returned back from government maintained crematorium for lack of certificates, but the recent norms by the government insisting since 2012 after the implementation of Aadhaar and photo identity proofs have made things difficult for the bereaving family members forcing them to bribe the burial staff more.  “Now with CAA being in news, the crematorium staff in tier one districts like Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruchy are making a fuzz by freaking out emotional families,” admitted a government public relation official adding that he had made four request calls to burial ground supervisors in the past one year.

“My mother recently passed away and there was no Aadhaar card for her. Due to prolonged knee pain and age-related difficulty availing Aadhaar from a government center was cumbersome, but a government doctor and a burial ground staff gave reference helping her cremation at the Beasant Nagar crematorium,” recalls V Balaji, a resident of RA Puram.

To support the documentation of his mom, he even submitted passport photocopies and proofs, but for a resident in a poor household it will be difficult to submit more proofs, Balaji said adding that the cremation process should be simple and easy for the family members, then I think the doctor death declaration certificate should be more than sufficient.

When contacted, a municipal administration official said that these are issues that prop up whenever new norms are prescribed. The burial ground staff should also cross-check that there is no foul play during the process, hence the additional cross verifications, the official said.

“In Chennai, lack of councillor is another issue. Usually, the public reach out to ward councillors seeking reference at burial grounds, but now the public has to rely on government staff,” said Poonga Nagar Selvam, a north Chennai AIADMK functionary.