The Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS) says the Chief Medical Officer, Dr Roshan Parasram, has agreed to meet with them to discuss the cremation issue for Hindu families who must hold indoor cremations because open-pyre ones have been banned as part of pandemic restrictions.
In a release on Friday, SDMS acting secretary general Vijay Maharaj said Parasram's invitation to meet with them provided room for 'cautious optimism.'
He said, '…It is hoped that this may engender fruitful discussions on the crematorium issue thereby bringing relief to the very many Hindu families who are unable to cope with such a policy at such a sensitive time in our nation's history.
'Through constructive dialogue it is hoped that we can maintain the constitutional right to practise important religious customs in ways that are compliant with covid19 protocols.'
Last month, attorneys for the SDMS Dinesh Rambally, Stefan Ramkissoon and Kiel Tacklalsingh of Sovereign Chambers wrote to the CMO and the Minister of Health asking for a reversal of the policy banning open-pyre cremations.
Having received no response, the attorneys wrote again asking to meet to discuss the issue.
In response, an attorney for the State said the ministry was working assiduously to review the restrictions and was engaged in getting opinions from various people on the issue.
The attorneys said they were looking forward to having the issue resolved with dialogue.
The CMO also extended the invitation to meet with the SDMS.
Maharaj said the SDMS believed that Hindus in TT were entitled to an explanation of the decision to prohibit open-pyre cremations in favour of indoor cremations.
'This issue is a cardinal one, given the religious significance of cremations, and given the fact that a rising death rate is one tragic outcome of the covid19 pandemic.
'While indoor cremations are acceptable within the Hindu religion, and have been the chosen method of disposal for some persons in the past, it has now become mandatory for all victims of covid19 who must be cremated according to Hindu rites.'
Maharaj said the issue was not the use of a crematorium but the mounting cost of storage of bodies for days, as well as the cost of the incineration itself.
'Families grieving for their loved ones would not have been so financially burdened if they were allowed to have open pyres instead,' he added.
Maharaj added that when Rambally wrote to the CMO, he did so from a position of empathy because many lower-income Hindu families were unable to afford indoor cremations, particularly those who had lost more than one family member to the virus.
Earlier this week, the daughter of a covid19 fatality received the court's permission to challenge the ban on open-pyre cremations.
The matter has gone to November for trial, but attorneys for Cindy-Ann Ramsaroop-Persad have said they intend to appeal the judge's refusal to grant an interim order so that she can cremate her father, Silochan, 77, in an open-pyre Hindu cremation.
If she does proceed with her appeal a
