RAWALPINDI, Jan 7: A piece of land reserved for the dead on the outskirts of city may see the rise of a housing colony for the living — this time — as the place proves an eye candy for the Punjab government.

The City District Government Rawalpindi (CDGR) has proposed to the government to use Rakh Dhamial graveyard land for the establishment of Jinnah Abadi Scheme — a housing project proposed by PML-N led government.

It is pertinent to mention here that previously the 1,000 kanals of the graveyard land were proposed to be used for Ashiana housing scheme in July last year.

The only difference is that it has now recommended using 500 kanals for Ashiana Housing Scheme and 500 kanals for Jinnah Abadi Scheme.

A senior official of the CDGR told Dawn that it had identified four spaces for the establishment of Jinnah Abadi Scheme in the district on the directives of Punjab government and the graveyard is one of them.

He said that the provincial government had directed the CDGR to identify space for the establishment of Jinnah Abadi Scheme to provide three and five marla plots to the poor. He said that Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had announced the scheme last year to allot plots to the poor and the homeless in rural areas of the province. He said that the government would decide the space for the establishment and would invite the applications from the poor. He said that after receiving applications, the local administration would check the annual income of the applicants. He said that balloting would be held after the process of verification.

He said that the CDGR informed provincial government that there were four spaces in the district lying vacant and it could establish the housing scheme at these places. While explaining the reason, the CDGR informed the provincial government that the land was lying vacant for many years and not a single grave had so far been constructed there.

The second PPP government had allocated the land for a graveyard in 1996 under the big city project for Rawalpindi and provided a bus to the defunct Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation for transporting the dead there.

The senior CDGR official said that the administration has also pointed out three other spaces including 100 acres at Banjal in Gujar Khan, 60 kanals at Shokar in Taxila and 64 kanals in Rawalpindi near Rawat. He said that MNA Hanif Abbasi also suggested using Rawalpindi Arid Agricultural University’s land at Benazir Bhutto Road for the set up of the scheme. He said that PML-N MNAs and MPAs elected from Rawalpindi were of the view that the government should not use the land reserved for the graveyard.

When contacted, District Coordination Officer (DCO) Saqib Zafar admitted that the CDGR gave proposal to use Rakh Dhamial graveyard land for the housing scheme. He said that the housing scheme was meant for the poor in the district and the total number of plots would be announced by the provincial government after the site is finalised. He said that land had not been utilised for the purpose of graveyard despite lying vacant for many years.