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The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has planned to open 10 burial grounds on the outskirts of Bengaluru for people who die of COVID-19, irrespective of their religion.

According to reports, 10 new burial grounds would be coming up on 23 cares of land across five locations. The grounds will be used for burying bodies from all religions and sects.

Civic Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad informed that the Revenue Department is in the process of handing over the land they identified for the grounds. Once the process is done, the department will immediately make these burial grounds functional.

The Archdiocese of Bangalore, earlier had written to Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa seeking grant of land on Bengalurus outskirts for burial grounds for those who succumbed to COVID-19.

Peter Machado, Archbishop of Bengaluru wrote in his letter, Christianity doesn’t consider cremation as the mode of last rites. Giving the bodies of patients who die of COVID-19 for cremation causes much mental trauma for family members.

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Religions such as Christianity and Islam do not believe in cremation. There has been a growing demand to allow people to bury the dead. Places that are being earmarked will at least give the family a chance to bid their dead ones farewell with dignity, a BBMP official said.