RAWALPINDI: Rawalpindi Mayor Sardar Naseem on Thursday said development work worth Rs20 million is being carried out at Rakh Dhamial Graveyard and three funeral buses will also be purchased.

He said this during his visit to the graveyard along with union council chairmen of PML-N. Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC) officials gave them a briefing about the work.

All graves would be constructed as per numbers and funeral area should provide all facilities for ablution and prayers, he said, adding in the tenure of PML-N, former chief minister Shehbaz Sharif established Sher-i-Khamoshan to improve the condition of graveyards in the province but the present government stopped the work.

He said in 1997, the government allocated 1,000 kanals of land for the graveyard as there was shortage of space in the existing one, adding, some work was done during 2013-2018 but work was initiated using RMC funds.

There was an encroachment problem in all graveyards of the city thus no one will be allowed to do this in Rakh Dhamial as this land will be protected from land grabbers at any cost, Mr Naseem said.

On the other hand, officials of the administration said that people were not interested to bury their near and dear ones in Rakh Dhamialas it was out of the city. There is no proper transport to carry the dead body and people to attend funeral prayers. However, the mayor said that three funeral buses would be provided to people.

Meanwhile, Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) which is responsible for metropolitan planning of the city and manage housing societies across the district failed to force private housing societies to develop their own graveyards.

Under the law, it is mandatory for space to be provided for a graveyard, school, college, mosque, park and roads and this must be transferred in the name of the state.

Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2021