Status of cemetery plot questioned

Status of cemetery plot questioned

JAKARTA (JP): A city councilor urged the administration on
Friday to clarify the status of a 44-hectare plot of land
originally designated to be part of Pondok Ranggon Cemetery in
East Jakarta.

Agus Waluyo of Commission E for social welfare affairs said
the city's footdragging in determining the land's status had put
the 600 owners of the land in a state of limbo: They did not know
whether to sell their property or build houses on the sites.

"If the city administration wants to expand Pondok Ranggon
Cemetery, please explain it to the local people soon.

"Even if the administration doesn't have adequate funds to
finance the land's clearance, it could pay the land owners in
installments," Agus told reporters.

The 44-hectare site was originally designated as part of a
98.7-hectare area in Pondon Ranggon to be developed into a public
cemetery as stipulated in Gubernatorial Decree No. 68/1977.

The other 54.7 hectares have been cleared with 12.6 hectares
already the home to 21,183 graves, he said.

Pondok Ranggon Cemetery currently inters eight to ten bodies a
day, including unidentified corpses from hospitals, Agus added.
(ivy)