Malda, Nov. 17: Hindus and Muslims have united to honour the dead.

Concerned over the lack of space for Hindus to cremate their bodies, members of the minority community have donated a portion of land they use for burial.

For years, residents of the Muslim-dominated Sitalpur village in Chanchol subdivision have been using a plot of land (no. 352) spread over a little more than 3 acres to bury and cremate the dead. But the Muslims, who make up almost 70 per cent of the village population, had the lion’s share of around 2.86 acres, as given to them by Raja Saratchandra Mukherjee of Chanchol in 1927. The Hindus had only 20 decimals (.20 acres).

Over the past few years, tension had been simmering over this disparity as Hindus said the land they had was not enough for cremation. Trouble erupted on October 10, when a family decided to cremate a body on the burial land. Timely police intervention prevented a flare-up but it was then that village elders decided that a solution had to be worked out.

On Saturday, an all-party meeting, at which district administration officials were present, was called to discuss the issue. Among those who attended were the joint block development officer of Chanchol, officer-in-charge of the Chanchol police station, pradhans of two village panchayats and local leaders of the Congress and CPM.

At the meeting, it was unanimously decided that Muslims would give away a portion of land to the Hindus so that cremations could take place without having to encroach on burial land. The Muslims, in a pre-Id gift, agreed to transfer 16 decimals (.16 acres) from their 2.86-acre area plot to Hindus.

Praising the people for building communal harmony, Malda superintendent of police Pankaj Dutta said: “Though there has been no major incident, there was some tension over ownership of the land which had been given to the local Muslim association by the Raja of Chanchol in 1927. Since the cremation and burial spaces were adjacent, it created some problems. That divide has now been bridged forever thanks to the efforts of the local people.”

Local Congress legislator Mahbul Haque, who was present at Saturday’s meeting, said he had not expected the dispute to be resolved so amicably. “I never believed the local people would find such an honourable solution.”