A land dispute in Ghaziabad district of India’s Uttar Pradesh state is preventing the Christian community from using a cemetery as the country reels from the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Even today, two of our members died of Covid-19 and we are running from pillar to post of the administration office to perform the last rites. If we cannot use the cemetery, we will take them to the neighbouring state of Delhi,” Maneswar Das, a pastor of the Eternal Life Fellowship Society, told UCA News on May 17.
“We have been using the cemetery from 1988 and there was no such problem before, but two persons claimed their share of this land in 2014. Once the case came to our knowledge, we informed the local municipal corporation who asked us to approach the court. The municipal corporation passed a pro-posal in 2018 to give land for the construction of a cemetery for the Christian community.”
However, the contract letter was not given on behalf of the municipal corporation.

St John’s National Academy of Health Sciences, a prestigious Church institution in Bengaluru, has begun guiding a diocese in Odisha in Covid protocol behaviour.
“My diocese is grateful to St John’s Medical College helping us to deal with the present crisis due to the coronavirus pandemic,” Bishop Niranjan Sualsingh of Sambalpur told Matters India May 25.
As part of the project, the academy on May 24 organized a two-hour webinar for priests, nuns, Brothers, and lay people on how to follow daily pandemic protocol behaviors.
Around 45 people attended the first virtual conference on professional medical guidance on Covid-19 conducted by Doctor Bobby Joseph, head of the Department of Community Health at St John’s Medical College, Bengaluru.
Doctor Joseph explained how the virus spread and suggested ways to identify its symptoms. He also dealt with steps needed for maintaining mental health among the affected and their families and how to care and protect children from the virus. He also stressed precautionary measures to avoid infection and home isolation for the infected, the urgency of treatment and post vaccination care.
Doctor Joseph said he would guide the Church people in Sambalpur through WhatsApp, telephone and email. “Those with symptoms of Covid virus can seek my advice,” he added.