Despite allocating funds and earmarking land, the provincial government has failed to establish new graveyards in the garrison city as the old ones are left with no space for new burials.

As a result, the graveyards, which are now more than a century old, are still being used by the residents to bury their near and dear ones.

It is alleged that gravediggers are getting bribe from the citizens to make space for the new burials by destroying the old ones.

On the other hand, the local administration has failed to remove encroachments around the existing graveyards.

In 2013, the Punjab government allocated Rs46.18 million for the improvement of 1,582 graveyards in the district but the project is still not completed. More than 56 graveyards in the city are still without boundary walls and prone to encroachments.

A senior official of the City District Government Rawalpindi (CDGR) told Dawn that the project was launched before the general elections 2013 but after coming to power in the province, the PML-N did not bother to execute the project.

He said people in the city areas mostly used Dhoke Ratta, Jadeed Graveyard at Dhoke Ellahi Bux, Pirwadhai and Eidgah as other graveyards had no space left.

In 1996, the then prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, allocated 1,000 kanals at Rakh Dhamial for the establishment of a graveyard but it is still not being used, he added. “Neither the citizens are interested to bury their near and dear ones outside the city nor is the local administration taking any step to arrange funeral buses for the residents.”

He said the graveyard at Rakh Dhamial was the only one set up during the last 19 years. Local politicians belonging to the ruling party wanted to use the land for new housing schemes but the government was not ready to allow them to do so.

“The only funeral bus available with the Rawal Town Municipal Administration is out of order for the last two years and despite having Rs300 million development funds, the civic body could not procure a new bus,” he said.

Talking to Dawn, the residents of the city expressed resentments over the lack of space in the graveyards.

“I had to go through a very bad experience when my father died four years ago as there was no space in the Dhoke Ratta graveyard. However, when my uncle paid some extra money to the gravedigger he immediately managed a space there,” said Mohammad Akhter, a resident of Naya Mohallah.

Abrar Hussain, of Mohanpura, said he managed to get a space for the burial of his daughter at the Poori Pull graveyard as his mother was already buried there.

“Mostly, the residents of the adjoining areas have encroached on the graveyard land by constructing houses and shops.”

He said like the Capital Development Authority (CDA), the CDGR should manage the graveyards instead of allowing the locals to encroach on its land.

The situation in the cantonment areas is not different but the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB0 has recently allocated Rs20 million for the establishment of a new graveyard.

When contacted, former city district nazim and PTI leader Raja Tariq Kiani said there was a dire need to address the issue. He said the government should arrange funeral buses to facilitate the residents to use the Rakh Dhamial graveyard.

He said in 2006 the CDGR had allocated funds for the procurement of new buses and the construction of walls around the existing graveyards to protect their lands against encroachment but after the victory of the PML-N in Punjab in 2008, the project was shelved.

PPP City chapter spokesman Shujaat Haider Naqvi told Dawn that his party had taken up the issue of the graveyard land allocated by Ms Bhutto in 1996 but to no avail.

He said his neighbour’s grave vanished in heavy rains as it was made near the Leh Nullah. He said people buried their relatives near Leh Nullah due to the shortage of space in the old graveyards.

When contacted, former PML-N lawmaker Malik Shakil Awan said he had suggested that the provincial government should form an authority to manage the graveyards in the district.

“I have written a letter to Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and informed him about the problems being faced by the residents due to the shortage of spaces in the graveyards. The chief minister has promised to resolve the issue.”

He said the provincial government would soon arrange funeral buses and develop the 1,000 kanals at Rakh Dhamial on the pattern of the CDA graveyard in H-11.

Published in Dawn, August 30th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play