LAHORE: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif chaired a meeting on Friday to review the scope of establishment of state-of-the-art graveyards on the pattern of Shehr-i-Khamoshan in other major towns of the province.

Keeping in view the rising population, the need for model graveyard is being felt and Shehr-i-Khamoshan established near Kahna Nau is a response to this need, said the chief minister.

More than one model graveyards would be established in major towns replicating the Kahna Nau Shehr-i-Khamoshan before December 2018, he added.

He directed the officials to furnish a report in two weeks after the identification of land in different districts.

The provincial government has established the Shehr-i-Khamoshan Authority and allocated Rs1 billion for it in the budget 2017-18.

The chief minister lamented at the commercial use of areas reserved for graveyards in private housing schemes and asked the development authorities and other departments to ensure an end to the misuse of the land.

He said that he visited Shehr-i-Khamoshan model graveyard a few days ago and observed that decent arrangements had been made to perform funeral rites, including separate arrangement of ablution of the bodies while cold storage facility is also provided.

Published in Dawn, June 24th, 2017