A developer’s plan to build an ossuary near Shulin Elementary School in Taoyuan’s Dasi District (大溪) ran into opposition from local residents, who vowed to demonstrate against the plan at a company hearing scheduled for today.
Taoyuan City Councilor Yang Chao-wei (楊朝偉) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) on Thursday accused Diwang Development Ltd Co of being dishonest with local residents.
Yang said residents and a borough warden told him they were invited to a charity banquet for disadvantaged people by Diwang Development.
In the middle of the meal, a banner identifying the event as a charity banquet was replaced by another that read “construction publicity event,” he said.
The attendees thought the developers were trying to trick them into supporting the project, Yang said.
“Building an ossuary near the school would of course be controversial for the parents and borough residents. Diwang Development not only failed to explain its project, but also resorted to deception to hide its intentions. This is immoral,” he said.
The planned ossuary would be 195m from the school, which is less than the legal minimum distance of 300m, Taoyuan City Councilor Chen Chih-wen (陳治文) of the Democratic Progressive Party said, adding that she will lobby against the project at the city council.
A spokesman for Diwang Development, which was founded by the buddhist group Dadaofo Chengzong (大道佛乘宗), said the planned ossuary’s site is an informal cemetery with 262 unmarked graves, adding that the company is “trying to do right by the place.”
“We hope the residents will today respond to our briefing rationally so that we would have an opportunity to explain everything,” the spokesman said.
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