BORN with a hole in the heart, Jegathiswaran Suresh was only one and a half years old when he died.
Some 22 years have passed but his parents Suresh Parasuramam, 52, and Santhi Ramaiyah, 55, still make it a point to visit their son’s grave at the Ampang Hindu cemetery in Jalan Kolam Air Lama, Ampang Jaya in Selangor.
To ensure that their child’s final resting place would be well maintained, the couple pay a yearly maintenance fee of RM150 to the cemetery caretaker.
But of late, the couple noticed that upkeep has been on the decline.
“The grass was overgrown and the place looked very unkempt.
“My wife was afraid to walk there as she feared there would be snakes,” said Suresh when he last visited on Jan 22.
Checks showed that the maintenance of the place comes under the Hindu Cemetery Crematorium Ampang Association.
When contacted, the management’s committee member Selvanathan Periathamby confirmed that a grass cutting and clearing exercise was held on Oct 24 last year.
Following the complaints, a cleanup was organised on Jan 29 with the cooperation of Ampang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ) and KDEB Waste Management Sdn Bhd.
Cleaning works with a workforce of 10 people and two roll-on, roll-off bins started at 8.30am and ended at 1pm.
In addition, KDEB contributed two units of 660-litre mobile rubbish bins to be placed at the Hindu cemetery as well as the Chinese cemetery located behind it.
On hand to receive these bins from KDEB Ampang Jaya acting operations head Marwan Zainuddin was the association’s honorary chairman Indrakaran T. Karthigesu.
On the maintenance issue, Indrakaran said the association did not receive any government grants.
“We manage on whatever we receive from the next-of-kin for burials,” he said.
At present, the fee for a burial is RM1,800, out of which RM500 is given to the association by the caretaker.
This has been the practice for the past 14 years.
A yearly maintenance fee of RM100 would also be paid by the next-of-kin to the caretaker to clean up the area.
“In a year, there may be no more than four to six burials,” said Indrakaran.
“Of the 800 burial plots, of which 50 are empty, maintenance fees are being paid for only 200.
“And even then, not all are paying the full sum or extra.
“Some pay RM50, others RM30 or RM20,” he said.
When former caretaker Siva Pragasam died in 2021, the committee began receiving complaints of shoddy maintenance from the next-of-kin.
“We will be offering a tender for a professional contractor to take care of clearing and cleaning works,” said Indrakaran.
Another visitor, Suresh Simon, 31, who buried his father at the cemetery three years ago, hopes the situation can be resolved quickly.
“It is only right that those who accept the fees clean up the place,” he said.
