RAWALPINDI: The shortage of space in existing graveyards of the city has been a cause for concern among residents of the city as the government continues to ignore the issue.

Almost 90pc of Rawalpindi’s graveyards are short on space to accommodate fresh requests to bury the dead. There are more than 60 small and big graveyards in the garrison city and 10 in cantonment areas.

All main graveyards of the city including Ratta Amral, Pirwadhai, Eidgah, Shan Diyan Talian, Kuri Road, Dhoke Khaba, Dhoke Illahi Buksh, Dhoke Kashmirian, Cha Sultan, Malikan Da Kabristan, and the one near Committee Chowk do not have space for new graves. Yet, grave diggers dig new graves over unattended ones to accommodate requests that cannot be turned down.

During a survey, Dawn found encroachments along graveyards whereas due to limited space, managements of graveyard committees have also been charging higher prices for new graves. All graveyards are without boundary walls and land grabbers have managed to carry out construction in their surrounding areas; the worst affected is one of the oldest graveyards of Rawalpindi whereas the Dhoke Ratta and Pirwadhai graveyards also present the same picture.

Management of the graveyards had dug new graves along the bank of the nullah passing through the area but during monsoon, flood water destroys them, creating problems for the heirs.

The Eidgah graveyard is accommodating new arrivals as the management extended limits of the graveyard along the banks of the nullah.

Racecourse graveyard in cantonment is also running out of space. The Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) imposed a ban on new arrivals in the graveyard and asked that limited space be allocated for only army personnel.

Mohammad Nasir, resident of Mohanpura, said that his father died two months ago and he visited all the graveyards near his locality but they refused to bury his father. He said he talked to a grave-digger in Dhoke Illahi Buksh who managed to provide a space between two graves for his deceased father.

A resident of Chaklala Scheme III, Mudassir Malik said his brother died a few weeks ago and his family faced difficulty in finding a place to bury the deceased as there was no space available in Chaklala Scheme-III graveyard.

He said he paid Rs30,000 to the graveyard near Chungi Stop adjacent to Scheme-III. The government should allocate space for a graveyard in the city. In mid-90’s, 1000 kanals of land was allocated for the purpose in Rakh Dhamial but since the last 26 years, all governments failed to develop the graveyard.

In 2017, the PML-N government had launched project Shehr-e-Khamoshan and started work to construct a funeral prayer site, mosque, ablution area and other facilities but the graveyard is still not being utilised.

On the other hand, officials of the administration said that people were not interested in burying their near and dear ones in Rakh Dhamial as it was out of the city. There is no proper transport to carry the deceased and people to attend funeral prayers.

RDA, which is responsible for metropolitan planning of the city and managing housing societies across the district has failed to force private housing societies to develop their own graveyards. Under the law, every private housing society has to allocate space for graveyard, school, college, mosque, park and roads and it has to be transferred in the name of the state.

Former PML-N MNA Malik Shakil Awan said that the ruling party has failed to develop graveyards. “We do not expect good from them as they are snatching bread from the people. How can they provide facilities?” he said.

The PML-N government in its tenure developed the Rakh Dhamial graveyard but work on it was stopped by the present government just to get political revenge from PML-N.

Former PTI MPA Arif Abbasi said that development of graveyards was the government’s priority. When contacted, Rawalpindi Metropolitan Corporation (RMC) Chief officer Ali Abbas Bukhari said Punjab Law Minister Raja Basharat directed to speed up work to develop Rakh Dhamial graveyard and make it functional as soon as possible.

He said that RMC purchased two funeral buses so families could transport deceased persons to the graveyard. “We are providing free of cost service to citizens in the garrison city for use of funeral buses. We will purchase two more buses soon,” he said, adding there is an acute shortage of graveyards in the city making burial of the dead a great problem for the bereaved families.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2021