Residents of Mira Road boycott elections to protest against state's apathy

Locals have put up posters announcing their decision across the village. Pic/Hanif Patel

Decades of pleas and prayers later, residents of Mira Road village Varasaave have taken a stand. The villagers - who have been forced to bid adieu to their loved ones under plastic sheets or tarpaulin on a pyre in a forested land due to the lack of a crematorium in the area - have decided to boycott municipal elections until their demands are met. Their slogan: No crematorium, no vote.

mid-day in its report on July 22 had highlighted the plight of the villagers who have been struggling to perform last rites this monsoon season.

Speaking to mid-day, Varasaave resident Moti Raam Pawar said, "Politicians or even the civic authorities either have no clue about the problems we are facing, or they are not bothered. It's a huge task conducting last rites in the open during the monsoon as the rain keeps extinguishing the fire. We spend hours waiting for the rites to finish as the corpse needs to be set alight again and again."

Echoing similar thoughts, another resident Lahu Jagan Tambdi, 43, said, "This situation cannot continue. We need a crematorium. We have decided to boycott the August 20 polls so that the authorities finally notice our plight."

One of the oldest villages on the Mira Road-Ghodbunder stretch, Varasaave is home to around 3,500 people, who have been living there for generations. And yet, basic facilities continue to elude them.