Telugu Desam Party legislator Nimmala Rama Naidu, who represents the Palakole Assembly constituency in Andhra Pradesh’s West Godavari district, on Friday slept at a crematorium in Palakole town to drive away the fear of construction workers employed to modernise it, Hindustan Times reported.
“I am going to sleep at the same place for another two or three days,” Naidu said. “This is to instil confidence among the workers, who were otherwise scared of entering the premises to take up the construction.”
Naidu said the crematorium had been neglected for several years. “The entire cremation ground [turns] slushy during rainy season,” he said, adding that there was no facility for people to take bath after cremating the dead.
Last year, the state government sanctioned Rs 3 crore to construct a new crematorium. “We wanted to completely modernise the place by developing a garden, constructing new platforms for cremating the bodies, bathrooms and providing other facilities.” However, Naidu was unable to find a contractor even after inviting bids twice.
The legislator managed to find a contractor a few weeks ago. The workers, however, noticed a partially burnt corpse a few days ago and refused to work, fearing “ghosts and spirits”. Naidu then decided to sleep at the crematorium.
On Friday, he ate dinner there and slept on a cot. He went home the following morning and returned to see over 50 workers at the site. Naidu admitted that he takes up such programmes to appease people. “After all, elections to the state Assembly are not very far,” he said.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan appreciated Naidu’s efforts. “TDP MLA Nimmala Rama Naidu deserves praise for spending a night at a crematorium where workers had refused to enter after dark to do modernisation work out of fear of ‘spirits’,” he tweeted.
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