*The sight of naked children playing with scattered bones was shocking for Vasantha Lakshmi, who entered the Bodiganigunta burial ground in Nellore town bearing her mother's remains along with her brothers for last rites in September. *
"A few of them fought for my mother's clothing which we threw after she was laid on the pyre; many jostled for the coins and other materials that we brought with us for the last rites," Vasantha Lakshmi, an advocate, recalls.
She decided to work for the children's welfare right there, watching the fire consume her mother's remains.
"When I picked up a five-year-old boy and asked him to come with me so that I could put him in a government boarding school, I was shocked to hear him respond in expletives and the kind of language I never thought existed," she said. Undaunted, Vasantha pitched a tent at the place and began setting things right for the children with the help of her husband Dr Ravi Kumar, a paediatrician. In one year, she worked with the Nellore district administration to get ration cards and other basic amenities for families living in the burial ground.
"Within a month, - by October 2011 - I had shifted 100 children to Prem Sadan, enrolled their mothers in self-help groups, saw that the district administration provided them loans, ration cards, pensions to the elderly, and even organised a Lok Adalat in the burial ground itself to provide legal aid to the petty criminals and vagabonds of that area," she added.
Andhra Pradesh's Child Rights Commission noted the transformation Vasantha Lakshmi's work had brought to the children and their families during their recent visit. In its report, the panel said more than 300 families have been living in the burial ground for nearly 50 years. Most of them are from Tamil Nadu and belong to the Scheduled Caste.
Bodiganigunta continues to remain the spot for burying and cremating dead bodies and conditions have barely improved. Adding to the families troubles are a huge dumping yard, releasing foul smell, poisonous gas and houseflies.
"Children were playing with human bones and skulls. They were using Gutka and drugs like Whitener. They survived eating food thrown for the corpses during last rites and earn by begging and rag picking. Some of the older girls engaged in prostitution or were given away in marriage early," said P Achyuta Rao, one of the Commission members. Reported by Deccan Herald 5 hours ago.
"A few of them fought for my mother's clothing which we threw after she was laid on the pyre; many jostled for the coins and other materials that we brought with us for the last rites," Vasantha Lakshmi, an advocate, recalls.
She decided to work for the children's welfare right there, watching the fire consume her mother's remains.
"When I picked up a five-year-old boy and asked him to come with me so that I could put him in a government boarding school, I was shocked to hear him respond in expletives and the kind of language I never thought existed," she said. Undaunted, Vasantha pitched a tent at the place and began setting things right for the children with the help of her husband Dr Ravi Kumar, a paediatrician. In one year, she worked with the Nellore district administration to get ration cards and other basic amenities for families living in the burial ground.
"Within a month, - by October 2011 - I had shifted 100 children to Prem Sadan, enrolled their mothers in self-help groups, saw that the district administration provided them loans, ration cards, pensions to the elderly, and even organised a Lok Adalat in the burial ground itself to provide legal aid to the petty criminals and vagabonds of that area," she added.
Andhra Pradesh's Child Rights Commission noted the transformation Vasantha Lakshmi's work had brought to the children and their families during their recent visit. In its report, the panel said more than 300 families have been living in the burial ground for nearly 50 years. Most of them are from Tamil Nadu and belong to the Scheduled Caste.
Bodiganigunta continues to remain the spot for burying and cremating dead bodies and conditions have barely improved. Adding to the families troubles are a huge dumping yard, releasing foul smell, poisonous gas and houseflies.
"Children were playing with human bones and skulls. They were using Gutka and drugs like Whitener. They survived eating food thrown for the corpses during last rites and earn by begging and rag picking. Some of the older girls engaged in prostitution or were given away in marriage early," said P Achyuta Rao, one of the Commission members. Reported by Deccan Herald 5 hours ago.