More on the new Nadur cemetery

Bertrand Borg has written about the controversy involving a group of farmers supported by eight NGOs and Nadur archpriest Mgr Jimmy Xerri over the building of a new cemetery in a very sensitive area in the limits of Nadur (The Sunday Times, February 26).

Your reporter should, in fairness, have given more details to complete the picture.

Firstly, before the building of the cemetery started, the farmers had expressed concern about the negative impact that could be caused by the 600-grave project overlooking their fertile fields planted with thousands of citrus trees and where seasonal vegetables and crops are cultivated all the year round. They argued they had no guarantee that rainwater run-off from the cemetery would not be contaminated by the corpses buried underneath as it flowed towards their fields.

And once this water contamination is known, they would be unable to sell their produce and would then be unable to make a living.

Why were the farmers’ justified claims downplayed or ignored by those responsible for this project?

Also, water from the old spring still irrigated their fields before the excavation of the graves. No attention has been given to this natural spring that has supplied fresh water for centuries to these fields. This project has compromised this source of water, to the farmers’ detriment.

No one knows how or when this controversy will end. But whoever is responsible for this project, for which no environmental impact assessment, or hydrologist’s and geological reports were carried out, should carry the burden, and do justice to the farmers by providing them with an alternative source of water.

We all know there is distributive and retributive justice. That is what the Church administration should do to be an authentic witness of Christ and his moral teaching.

Despite all these considerations, the Malta Environment and Planning Authority granted permission to build this cemetery. But this was withheld after the excavation was done and the graves and boundary walls were constructed, because, among other things, the excavations were deeper than those allowed by Mepa.

Regrettably, your report did not mention these factors. A number of people have already purchased a grave in a development now deemed illegal. In the same issue, your Gozo page reported that Mass was concelebrated on the site of this new yet unfinished cemetery. Surely this was not for the repose of the souls of the dead buried in the cemetery, since the graves are empty. Could it have been a subtle way to get Mepa to reissue the permit?

Of course, if this were the case, it was morally wrong. Holy Mass or any other form of religious practice should never be intended to bring pressure to bear. The local Church should seek reconciliation with the farmers and their families.