KARACHI: As there is no more land available for burial in most graveyards of the city and a majority of cemeteries are under the control of mafias, the city authorities appear to have ignored the serious situation while two new cemeteries being established on city outskirts will prove to be insufficient for the purpose.

Sources told Dawn on Sunday that six graveyards out of total 39 under the administrative control of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation had been closed for burial leading to a steep upsurge in burial ground prices across the city.

The cemeteries which have been closed for burial are Tariq Road Graveyard, Yasinabad Graveyard, Model Colony Graveyard, Azeempura Graveyard, Paposhnagar Graveyard and Colony Gate Graveyard, where no more burial ground is left.

They said that the repurposing of graves was frequently carried out in the city graveyards, including those which had been closed, as the city death rate was stated to be around 0.33 per cent of the total population per annum.

At least six Karachi graveyards closed, exerting pressure on those still open

The sources in the KMC said that around 20 to 25 dead were buried in different cemeteries of the city, while over 100 bodies were taken out of the city to other parts of the country daily.

They said that the number of bodies taken out of city had also declined considerably in recent years mainly due to remarkable increase in transportation charges.

The sources said that around 10,000 graves were needed every year in the city in view of the death rate.

The sources said that while the city municipal administration had fixed a price of Rs9,000 for a grave, the price of burial ground could go up to Rs200,000, depending on the location of the graveyard and grave as many people wanted to bury their loved ones beside their relatives.

Karachi cemetery committee convener and director information of KMC Ali Hassan Sajid told Dawn that two new ‘model’ cemeteries were under construction in Surjani Town and along the Link Road on Superhighway, adding that burial would be done free of cost in collaboration with welfare organisations Saylani Welfare Trust and the JDC and no money would be charged from the people.

He said that the work at the 11-acre model graveyard in Surjani Town had almost been completed with levelling and dressing of the ground and construction of storm-water drain.

“The model graveyard having capacity of over 20,000 graves will be operational in the next two months,” he added.

Land mafia

The KMC media director said that the work on the 22-acre second model graveyard along the Link Road on Superhighway was also in progress.

However, sources told Dawn that the work on the cemetery was being hindered by a land grabbing mafia.

Similarly, they said that the land mafia was also active at a 10-acre land KMC had acquired from the board of revenue for establishing a graveyard.

The sources said that the municipal administration had approached the district administration and area police to get the land of the graveyard vacated from illegal occupants, but to no avail.

They said that an eight-member central committee comprising Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) officers and representatives of welfare organisations, was set up to improve condition of cemeteries.

The sources said that the committee had taken several steps under which gravediggers and other staff working in cemeteries would be registered and they would be issued regular identity cards.

They added that it was also decided that children (people under 18 years of age) and females would not be eligible to perform any work in graveyard.

However, the sources said that only 50 gravediggers had so far been registered with the KMC.

They said that the purpose of setting up the central committee was to facilitate burial procedure and improve infrastructure, provision of street lights and tree plantation, prevention of bodies’ theft and issuance of burial certificates.

The sources, however, said that there was no improvement at the city’s graveyards which were still under the control of different mafias.

Besides KMC graveyards, there are also over 200 cemeteries managed by different NGOs and communities.

Published in Dawn, April 11th, 2022